Redaccion
The Governing Council of the Urban Planning Management of the City Council of La Laguna agreed yesterday, with the support of all political parties, to initiate the minor modification process of the General Urban Plan (PGO) and its corresponding simplified procedure of Strategic Environmental Assessment for the area of Los Molinos – San Honorato. This measure will focus on generating new interconnected green and recreational spaces and creating a neighborhood designed for residents and pedestrians. This action, in line with the objectives of the Local Urban Agenda of La Laguna, responds to the will expressed by the neighborhood associations in the area and to two agreements of the municipal council.
With this minor modification of the PGO, which will be subject to new contributions from citizens and obtaining various sectoral reports, the aim is to ensure a series of shared objectives in the new area planning, following the lines established in the strategic model of local development.
The councilor for Urban Planning and director of the Urban Planning Management, Adolfo Cordobés, explained that «the ultimate goal is to increase and improve spaces for citizens throughout the neighborhood, reinforcing the relationship between them and pedestrian connectivity, as well as recovering green and recreational areas currently entirely dedicated to vehicles.»
All this, added Cordobés, «is aimed at promoting a rational and sustainable use of urban space, combining uses in a functional way and creating safe, healthy, accessible, and energy-efficient environments. In addition to promoting the creation of housing and integration of residential, recreational, equipment, and activity uses in the urban fabric, achieving greater proximity to citizens and thus avoiding the economic and environmental costs associated with transportation.»
Among the objectives of this action are to establish urban parameters that allow for the development of recreational buildings connected to public open space in a fluid, accessible, and public manner; generate connected open spaces that allow for movement along the neighborhood fabric, between the density of housing, to enhance mobility, and promote the introduction of space for an alternative and sustainable mobility system.
In addition to regulating uses with a greater compatibility of uses with urban space and green areas, as well as locating new buildings in the spaces to be filled in the blocks that still have buildings, or in contact with them, keeping the central void currently provisionally occupied by parking free.
It also includes maintaining the predominant building heights in the area; paying attention to the treatment of contact between the different parts of the area, both in the buildings with each other, and between the built and empty space; establishing vegetation as the preferred treatment in public open spaces, reclaiming space taken over by cars to turn it into spaces for staying and urban quality, as well as requalifying pedestrian urban connectivity spaces.
Housing
The modification of the PGO will also be aimed at materializing the agreed protected housing, enhancing diversified insertion in the urban fabric and avoiding ghettos, as well as incorporating energy efficiency solutions for the self-sufficient operation of recreational uses. And to ensure that the creation of open spaces does not affect the necessary residential provision, relocation at different points in the area and the municipality is proposed, through the occupation of the strictly necessary surface for the implementation of the displaced residential use.
It should be noted that this action addresses the divergences that arose due to the suspension of planning in this area following the demolition of the Francisco Javier Centurión building. It should be noted that the 56 homes were replaced within the framework of the Urban Regeneration and Renewal Area (ARRU) El Centurión and through an agreement between the Ministry of Development, City Council, Government of the Canary Islands, and Cabildo.
However, in accordance with Decree 125/2011, of May 17, which approves the Substantive Transitional Planning Rules, it was necessary to enable not only replacement but also the expansion of the offer of protected housing, as well as to enable land for facilities and open spaces.
However, the neighborhood’s demand for prioritizing the creation of more green areas conflicted with the creation of the remaining residential units established by the standard, which had been planned using existing plots for large VPO developments.
Hence, following various agreements of the Council and as a result of neighborhood contributions, the best way to ensure this supramunicipal mandate has been studied, avoiding residential concentration in a single area. After a comprehensive technical-legal analysis and in compliance with the agreements of the Full Council of May 11, 2017, and December 14, 2023, it is proposed to relocate the housing units planned in the San Honorato area to other points in the area and the municipality.
In this latest session of the Governing Council, the political parties have agreed to initiate the minor modification of the PGO and to submit it to the environmental body for evaluation, both the draft with the planning alternatives and the strategic environmental document. This is a necessary preliminary step that will include the corresponding public information period.
Once this report and the selection of the best options are available, the entire process will be started to decide, participatively, the final proposal and submit the document for initial approval.
