From AMCostaRica.com

From AMCostaRica.com -

Environmental tribunal says it has 40 open cases


The nation's environment police has 40 open cases as a result of four sweeps through the Caribbean, Guanacaste and Puntarenas province from March through July, the agency said Thursday.

This is the Tribunal Ambiental Administrativo. The sweeps were of development projects and houses. The agency said that it had 13 cases in Guanacaste after having visited just the cantons of Santa Cruz and Carrillo. There are six cases in central Pacific cantons of Garabito and Parrita, and in the south Pacific in the Canton de Osa there are 15 cases. Some six cases originated in the Caribbean coast.

Some projects have been frozen. Some early cases resulting in closings and developers are negotiating remediation of the landscape. Other cases still are in investigation. The primary concern of the tribunal is destruction of the landscape.

The tribunal in a news release singled out the Sea Breeze Mountain development in Las Delicias de Santa Cruz for special notice. The development includes four mountains, and the tribunal said that developers had constructed a network of roads. The problems include road cuts at 90-degrees from the horizontal, development in a waterway and the destruction of a number of trees.

ste removal at the Barceló Playa Langosta.

Also singled out was the Hotel Hyatt Azulera in Playa Brazilito where the tribunal said that permission was granted for cutting an excessive number of trees by the local office of the Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía.

In Playa Panamá the tribunal said it halted work on the Condo Hotel Loma Linda where the investigation centers on the extensive movement of earth and the cutting of trees. In Cuajiniquil de Santa Cruz the Proyecto Marbelleza is being investigated because tribunal experts said they found obstructions to three waterways and a kilometer of roads in a dry tropical forest.

In Tempate de Santa Cruz, the tribunal said it found a 52-unit apartment complex being built without a single permit. The press release identified the project as Villas Mediterraneous.

In Potrero the tribunal froze work on a gigantic home of some 650 square meters (nearly 7,000 square feet) because it said the project lacked environmental viability. The structure is perched on a hill and has a turret. The neighbors have dubbed it El Castillo. The tribunal said the home is owned by a German.

The tribunal said it also found a violations of the 50-meter restricted maritime zone at the Tamarindo Diriá hotel and sought a plan for wa

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