2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWELVE - Conservation (§§ 1-16 — 8162) › Subtitle 2 - Forests (§§ 121-128 — 217b) › Chapter 15C - Ecological Corridor of San Juan (§§ 216 — 216k) › § 216i - Conservation and management plan

The Department of Natural and Environmental Resources shall, within the term of thirty (30) days after the approval of this act, designate a Special Committee comprised [of] thirteen (13) members, including the representatives of the following entities: the National Institute of Tropical Forestry, the University of Puerto Rico, the San Juan Bay Estuary Program, the Planning Board, the Regulations and Permits Administration, the Luis Muñoz Marín Foundation, the Municipality of San Juan, and the remaining six (6) members shall be selected by the Alliance Pro Ecological Corridor of San Juan (ACES, Spanish acronym) Community Organization. The latter shall select three (3) members for a term of two (2) years, and the remaining three (3) members for a term of three (3) years; all of said members may be reelected. The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs shall provide to the Special Committee materials, equipment and office space for the performance of its duties. In close coordination and collaboration with this Special Committee, the Department shall prepare and implement a Plan for the Conservation and Management of the Ecological Corridor of San Juan. This integrated Conservation and Management Plan shall consider the following criteria:
(1) Establish the specific demarcation and the owners of the geographical area that shall be designated as the Ecological Corridor of San Juan.
(2) Provide the schematic design of the area.
(3) Establish the programming for the phases in which the lands of the Corridor shall be acquired, yielded, transferred, conserved and managed, pursuant to this chapter.
(4) Determine the cost of the expropriation process, including the administrative and operating costs of the project. In addition, consider the mechanisms for the financing, if any, necessary to comply with the purposes of this measure.
(5) Establish the directives and programmatic norms needed to achieve the conservation and management of the Ecological Corridor of San Juan, in compliance with the purposes set forth in this chapter.
(6) Define the strategies and activities geared toward harmonizing the policies on protection of the environment and natural resources with the policies to improve the quality of urban life.
(7) Monitor the effective implementation of the prohibition on the granting of construction permits and the denial of permits in process that contravene this chapter.
(8) Reevaluate the granting of construction permits, as well as the location and characteristics of same, in such a manner that they harmonize with the purposes and goals of this chapter. No construction shall affect the environmental and geographical integrity of the Ecological Corridor of San Juan.
(9) The Conservation and Management Plan of the Ecological Corridor of San Juan, as well as any amendment or modification, and the studies performed, shall be sent to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the Legislature. Within six months from the date of approval of this act, the Committee shall render a progress report to the Committees for the Development of the Capital City and the Treasury Committee of the Legislature. Said report must include the names of the members and the regulation, in addition to the work plan established for compliance with the conferred task. The Committee shall render a progress report every six (6) months until it renders its final report with the Conservation and Management Plan, after one (1) year of effectiveness of this act.
History —Aug. 28, 2003, No. 206, § 11; July 27, 2006, No. 135, § 1.