Jul 29 2008
Destructive Developer temporarily stopped
The employees and clients of our office in South Pacific, Uvita have taken the preservation of the environment seriously. We provide resources for education on this matter, urge our clients to chose the responsible development and construction techniques, and try to be careful which properties we represent on our website at South Pacific Real Estate Services. We also involve ourselves with ecological volunteer organizations and have helped to organize “Save the Earth Day”. This is our commitment to our clients and to this beautiful country.
If you are interested in Environmental issues and would like to participate in helping us maintain our beautiful country, please contact us:
Annie Drake: Cell: (506) 8898 0546
Location: Uvita/Dominical office
Position: Marketing director, south Pacific
Telephones: (506) 8897 6615 - Toll Free: 1 866 512 7781
Email: annie@southpacificrealestateservices.com
Therefore, it is disheartening when the few destructive developers seem to get away with things. Laws can be slow here and some people know how to evade them well. One woman and her associates have seemed to evade the law for many years. Just within the last 2 weeks, the Ministry of Environment and other local agencies are beginning to take steps and all of the locals are celebrating! Please see the following article from A.M. Costa Rica.
7/11/2008
Article, www.amcostarica.com July 11th 2008Projects for 1,000 new Pacific homes reviewed
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Environmental investigators in a sweep through the south Pacific coast have turned their eyes to five large projects in the Cantón de Osa that will bring 1,000 new homes to the area.
Investigators are checking out Osa Tropical, Sueños del Trópico, Vistas sin Fin, Trópicos Verdes and Radiant Sun Valley with close inspections, the Tribunal Ambiental Administrativo said Thursday in a press release. The tribunal seemed surprised by the extent of development in the area.
The five projects cover more than 800 hectares (1,977 acres) along the Pacific coast. The projects are in the vicinity of Ojochal and Chontales de Osa. Around 1,000 luxury homes are planned in the projects, the tribunal said.
The investigators expressed concern over the pressure on the landscape, the nearby forests, the water resources and the fragile mountain soil that such developments would have.
The tribunal is an independent agency under the Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía, and it includes judges that are empowered to assess environmental fines and order compensation to the environment. The sweep this week is being done by representatives of many other agencies, too.
Already the sweep has produced its first action. The Tribunal said that a backhoe was confiscated on the Radiant Sun Valley development because it
was carving a roadway in the protected zone near a watercourse. Investigators said they presumed that the road would eventually cross the waterway to another part of the project. Radiant Sun Valley has 111 hectares or 274 acres, according to the tribunal.
Osa Tropical, a project that is being constructed in 11 stages in Ojochal also had an environmental problem, according to the tribunal. Some of the new homes there have portions in the protective zones of watercourses or have been built in locations with grades of more than 60 degrees. Investigators also said that the construction is visible from nearby Bahía Ballena.
Radiant Sun Valley is owned by the same corporation as Sueños del Trópico with 389 hectares (961 acres), Vistas sin Fin of 149 hectares (368 acres) and Trópicos Verdes of 51 hectares (126 acres), according to the Tribunal. The report Thursday identified the corporation as Ejecutivos del Cielo S.A., set up by Canadians. In all, some 800 homes are planned her in the Chontales vicinity. The plan envisions lots from a third of an acre to an acre and a quarter, the tribunal said.
Investigations were to continue today in the coastal area south of Dominical.
