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| This page has been created to address the issues with the recently passed Puerto Morelos Development Plan. This plan, passed by Cancun, is an affront to the way of life in Puerto Morelos in many ways. Below, are communications received regarding the plan and what you can do to prevent it's implementation. IMPORTANT UPDATE Feb 27th 2009 Friends of Puerto Morelos: Update regarding Luum Kaanab Amparro Call for Third Party Damaged Good News!!! The judge accepted our amparro (initiated by Luum Kaanab (who can represent all of us) and also naming The National Marine Park (which is also all of us). This means that the PDU cannot be published and so therefore is not in effect yet. Also …in case of any confusion, let me say that our amparro is one of many (others include the UNAM, the botanical garden, plus the community one with the environmental lawyers that needed 11 copies signed, plus petitions, etc.. all are valid and necessary. Our legal battle is on several fronts and so far seems so good! The next step is for us to provide a list of “others” who would be negatively affected by 200, 000 new people trying to live in the flood zone with our same infrastructure. All of us fall in this category as we will be impacted by the contamination of ground water, demise of the reef, etc, etc. Previous news On Jan 22, 2009, the Urban Development Plan for Pto Morelos was approved (13 votes to 4 against) even though the aldermen recognized that the document is full of problems and errors. This was a very dark day for our comminity. The next step will be a legal appeal. This will be organized at a grass roots level and financed by fund raising… we are currently looking for the best and easiest way for those who want to donate $. CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW YOU CAN HELP HISTORY OF THE PLAN PUBLIC OPINION Since 2006, the community of Puerto Morelos started to work along with the Planning Institute of the Municipality of Benito Juarez ( IMPLAN) to update the PDUMP (Planning Director for Urban Development of Puerto Morelos). The community expressed the importance of sustainable and low density development in Puerto Morelos, given the fragile eco-system in the area ( reef, mangroves, jungle) and the karst nature of the soil. In the first workshop of diagnostics, the following mission was derived: “ To be a Port with its own history and identity, model for integral and balanced development, with low density and first class services. With productive and diverse activities of low impact on the environment, where the community participates in the conservation and approval of sustainable natural resources and culture. It will favor the protected natural areas, green areas, public spaces, pedestrians and cyclists, and that the residents be able to enjoy a high quality of living.” In the following meetings, several areas of diagnostics were worked on: Previously, the government of the State of Quintana Roo, assigned to the Consultants Maria Cristina Castro and Martha Garate, to continue the work that IMPLAN was doing, apparently because it wasn’t advancing quickly enough and there was a lot of interest in PDUPM approval before the change of the Municipal Presidency in April of 2008. In March of 2008, the department of urban development, and the aforementioned consultants, presented a proposal of PDUPM in a public audience and consult. The program presented, caused a strong rejection by the residents of Puerto Morelos, since it was not cohesive with the agreements taken at the workshops between IMPLAN and the community during 18 workshops of planning between 2006 and 2008. Besides, invitations to the meetings were not published in newspapers with wide circulation, they were only available on the internet, but the maps were not legible due to low resolution and were impossible to analyze. Among the most serious problems that the PDUPM proposes, is in a large part the development that they intend to realize in flood zones, in those areas that after hurricane Wilma, the water rose to 1.5m in height. Given the low absorption of the land, the water level took a long time to go down. Additionally, the majority of the urban areas that they propose to develop have high densities of 40 to 60 homes per hectare. This density is much higher than that proposed at the Ecological Program that established for these areas, 30 habitants per hectare. That’s to say that PDUPM is proposing 700% increase in density. Considering the area they propose to develop and the high density proposed, the population of Puerto Morelos would increase from 10,000 to 180,000 in 15 years. In asking the municipal government what this was based on the answer was that they used the number of hotel rooms that are projected in the zone for the year 2025, estimated at 14, 580. Considering the data by FONATUR for the zone, they have that for each hotel room there are 12 people. This gives a total of 174,960 habitants. Here it is important to mention that in Puerto Morelos there are close to 7000 hotel rooms, and that the population is less than 20,000 habitants. For now, a population like they are proposing seems over estimated. Besides the severe destruction of the jungle that the construction would cause, there is also the very real threat of ground water contamination threatening health, not only human but the health of the eco-systems, the mangroves and the reef. It is important to note that the economy of Puerto Morelos depends primarily on the tourism of our beaches and reef ( Decreed National Park in 1998). To deteriorate these environments, the economy of the residents would be affected as well. Currently, Puerto Morelos has serious deficiencies in its residential services. To begin with, the majority of the town does not have a sewer or drainage system, even though they use septic tanks , some waste is thrown directly into wells or cenotes. The landfill is exposed to the open air which is a source of human contamination, eventually leaching into the ground waters and eventually to the ocean. While PDUPM proposes the installation of drainage ( sewage) and treatment plants as well as solid waste management, we think that while the proposal sounds good, in reality there is little possibility that the Municipality will have the economic resources necessary for the implementation of these proposals, or of the form that would assure the conservation of natural resources and a good quality of life for the population. Therefore, the developers would have to resolve these problems but in the PDUPM’s document there are no clauses or safeguards to assure this would happen. All of these questions were exposed to the aldermen of the Cabildo of the past three years, since at the end of the day, they are the ones that have the decision to approve or not PDUPM. Besides, there were peaceful marches besides the means of communication. Thanks to these actions we achieved not having the aldermen approve PDUPM. Previously came the change of the municipal president and aldermen. We continue to work with IMPLAN in three workshops to elaborate the PIGRU, in which, in theory, should be based on PDUPM. While we were waiting on the results of those workshops, we found out that PDUPM presented to the community in March of 2008. and was rejected, was now being revised or reviewed by the Cabildo for approval. We immediately invited some aldermen to a meeting to expose the problems of PDUPM and of the process for development ( Jan 9, 2009). On Jan 12th, 2009 we had a meeting at the Municipal Palace with all the aldermen and the Director of Urban Devekopment to expose them to the same. One of the agreements reached was that they would see that we got the new version of the PDUPM to look it over. As of this date, this has not happened. On Jan 16th, 2009 members of the community of Puerto Morelos argued a meeting with the personnel of IMPLAN, as part of the workshops to solidify the PIGRU. At this, IMPLAN indicated that after a trip to review the flood zones, the areas in which could not be constructed increased and that the estimated population for 2030, according to PDU would be between 125,000 and 155,000 approximately. Even so, they continue to propose development in flood zones and high density of 40 to 60 per hectare in a large part of the development areas and they continue to be the same that they proposed in March of 2008 that were rejected by the community. For us it is evident that there is great pressure by the Government of the State for the approval of this development as quickly as possible. The insistence that they build houses and apartments in flood zones has never been justified and goes against what has been publicly planted by President Felipe Calderon, in respect to not continuing to build in flood zones. In Conclusion: We recognize the need to activate the Director of Development in Puerto Morelos, but it should be with a vision of sustainability. The PDUPM proposal is a project of real estate development, more so than urban development, which in our opinion, would cause serious damage to Puerto Morelos. PUERTO MORELOS UNITED FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT |