COMMUNIQUÉ REGARDING THE "EL PANUL" REAL ESTATE PROJECT
In response to a formal request made by Red por la Defensa de la Precordillera at the regular Municipal Council session of April 27, the Council decided to discuss the El Panul matter at its regular session of May 4.
The Municipality of La Florida, through its Council, unanimously decided to support the social, technical, and legal arguments that the organized community — through Red por la Defensa de la Precordillera — had presented to it.
Indeed, at the regular session on Wednesday, May 4, the Municipal Council of La Florida agreed to:
– Support the arguments and legal doctrine upheld by the community, and accepted by the Municipal Directorate of Works (DOM), concerning the danger of building on the Andean piedmont due to the high risk of landslides, stormwater and flooding, geological faults, mass removal phenomena, and the destruction of native forest — reasons that led the DOM to reject, on three separate occasions, the preliminary project of the company Gesterra, which seeks to build 1,370 housing units, some of them in 3- and 4-story buildings, over forests, ravines, and hillsides. The Council agreed to continue rejecting any project that seeks a construction permit here. – Development of a Sectional Plan — a special regulatory framework to protect the precordillera — in order to prevent catastrophes such as the one that occurred in the Quebrada de Macul landslide (1993). To this end, the Council approved the conduct of a new Risk Study to update previous ones.
All of this is happening at a time when the Ministry of Housing, through the Regional Ministerial Secretariat (SEREMI), was strongly pressuring the DOM to approve the preliminary project — despite the fact that the company had not addressed the observations raised by the DOM regarding fundamental matters such as stormwater management and high-density construction in sloped areas.
This agreement is a small victory for Red and for the entire community. Small, because there is still much to be done. We know the company will return, as always, with its lobbying, its ambitions, and its millions. But the argument of property rights can no longer hold up when we all know the origins of this property and the social responsibility of any owner when it comes to natural heritage of incalculable value.
From this day forward, in La Florida we will protect our environmental heritage — for our own good and for those who will come after us.
May this be a message of invitation and hope to all those who struggle for a better world.
RED POR LA DEFENSA DE LA PRECORDILLERA
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