2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-ONE - Municipalities (§§ 1-4 — 6756) › Subtitle 6 - Autonomous Municipalities (§§ 4001 — 4990-4990j) › Chapter 225 - Territorial Ordinance (§§ 4601 — 4627) › § 4603 - Territorial Plan

The Territorial Plan shall be an instrument of integral and strategic ordinance of the whole municipal territory and shall cover at least one municipality. The Plan shall define the fundamental elements of such ordinance and establish the program for its development and execution, as well as its effectiveness term. Another of its functions shall be to divide the total municipal land in three (3) basic categories: urban land, urbanizable land, and rural land. This classification system shall be used to provide for ordinance for the cases and the structures in those lands, and the categories to be created within the same shall be uniform and in harmony with those created through regulations by the Planning Board of Puerto Rico and pursuant to §§ 227 et seq. of Title 23, known as the “Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Land Use Act”. The designation of urbanizable land, if any, shall be done according to the determination of the plan regarding the demand for urban land. Once the Territorial Plan is in effect, any decision concerning the use of the land shall be made pursuant to the same.
Regarding urban land, the territorial plan shall comply with, among others, the following purposes: provide to correct the deficiencies of the existing development, propitiate social interaction and economic transactions, promote the efficient use of the land and preserve the cultural heritage.
Regarding urbanizable land, the territorial plan shall comply with, among others, the following objectives: define the fundamental elements of the general structure of the territorial ordinance; establish an extension program, and establish regulations for the programmed urbanizable land concerning the manner and conditions under which it may become programmed urbanizable land. Within the urbanizable land, the territorial plan shall establish two (2) categories with the following characteristics:
(a) Programmed urbanizable land.— Shall be constituted by land which can be urbanized according to the territorial plan in a foreseeable period of four (4) years after the date of effectiveness of the plan. This programmed urbanizable land requires an extension program.
(b) Non-programmed urbanizable land.— Shall be constituted by land which can be urbanized according to the territorial plan in a foreseeable period of between four (4) and eight (8) years after the date of effectiveness of the plan. The conversion of non-programmed urbanizable into programmed urbanizable land shall require that the programmed urbanizable land contain an approved extension plan and the imminent development of the programmed urbanizable land, and that at least half ( 1 / 2 ) of that land have preliminary or construction designs already approved. Any conversion of non-programmed urbanizable land into programmed urbanizable land shall require the drafting of an extension program and the revision of the land classification plan of the territorial plan.
Regarding rural land, the territorial plan shall comply with, among others, the following objectives: To maintain said land free from the urbanizing process; prevent the degradation of the landscape and the destruction of the natural heritage; establish measures for the non-urban use of the land; designate the land that must be especially protected due to its special characteristics; or draft plans for the management of natural and agricultural resources. Within the rural land the territorial plan shall establish two categories:
(a) Common rural land.— Refers to land which is not considered for urban or urbanizable use in a territorial plan, due to the fact, among others, that the urban or urbanizable land classified as such in the plan is sufficient to provide for the expected urban development.
(b) Rural land especially protected.— Refers to land which is not considered for urban or urbanizable use in a territorial plan and because of its special location, topography, aesthetic, archeological or ecological value, unique resources or other attributes, is identified as land which should never be used as urban land.
The territorial plan shall be developed by means of three (3) sets of documents: the general report, the program and the regulations.
The general report shall contain the following basic documents:
(a) A general report of the plan, to include, among others, a description of the general contents of the plan.
(b) A document to include an inventory, diagnosis, and the recommendations regarding the social, economic and physical development of the municipality. The document shall include, at least, the following specific design plans: infrastructure (main lines with actual and residual capacity), use of the urban land, use and characteristics of the rural land and the boundaries of the urban, urbanizable and rural land. The document shall contain a narrative description regarding the historic behavior of the area and an analysis, among others, of the deficiencies and needs of the present social, economic, physical and environmental development; the role of the municipality within its region; the housing needs; the characteristics and needs of the rural land; and the identification of the regulations, if any, of the Planning Board and the Permit Management Office believed to be in need of revisions in order to adjust them to the requirements of the plan. Should the substitution or amendment of any of the regulations be intended, the basis for the proposed action shall be discussed.
(c) Documents detailing the policies of the plan establishing goals and objectives and the recommendations for social, economic and physical development of the municipality. This document is fundamental to the plan and shall establish and include the policy determinations for the program and the regulations. The goals and objectives relative to the use of the land shall be specifically set forth for each classification of the urban, urbanizable and rural land. This document shall be accompanied by the design plans needed to graphically illustrate the physical and spatial development proposed by the plan.
The program shall contain the following basic documents:
(a) A program for general projects to include the identification, economic and financial evaluation and the time-table for economic, social and physical development projects for the municipal territory. This identification of projects shall be accompanied by the following conceptual or schematic design plans, among others:
(1) Location and proposed capabilities of the infrastructure, excluding the road system.
(2) Location and proposed capabilities of the road system.
(3) Location and capabilities of new general communal uses, additional to the infrastructure.
(b) Affordable housing program including projects and programs to attend to these needs.
(c) Support program for the conservation, protection and use of the rural land, free from the urbanizing process.
(d) Extension program for the programmed urbanizable land. This extension program shall be required in order to draft the extension plan and to convert non-programmed urbanizable land into programmed urbanizable land. The extension program shall include the following documents, among others:
(1) A statement of the social, economic and physical goals and objectives for the new extension.
(2) An analysis of the needs of the extension.
(3) Statements indicating the use, intensity levels and characteristics of the structures and the public space for the territorial ordinance.
(4) Determination as to the main communal needs and uses, with emphasis on the infrastructure.
(e) Investments Projects Program.— The municipality and the corresponding agencies of the Central Government, including public corporations, shall agree on the projects, the date on which they shall begin and the cost thereof in order to achieve the objectives of the ordinance plan. The approval of the ordinance plan by the Governor shall constitute a commitment of a contractual nature between the State, the agencies, the public corporations and the municipality to carry out said projects on the scheduled dates.
The regulations shall include the following basic documents:
(a) Design plan for land classification, dividing the municipal territory into urban land, urbanizable land (programmed and non-programmed) and rural land (common and especially protected).
(b) Regulations and ordinance design plans, and other territorial ordinance determinations, with indications for the use, intensity levels and characteristics of the structures and the public space. The regulations shall be drafted specifically for the urban, the urbanizable and the rural land, and may include norms in effect of the Planning Board and the Permit Management Office. The substantive and procedural provisions which lend legal authority to make feasible the territorial ordinance used in the ordinance plans shall be part of the regulations and the ordinance design plans.
The territorial plan, in its drafting process, shall require the preparation of an advance which shall serve as an instrument to divulge the ideas of the plan, as well as a means to promote a broad participation of the citizenry and of the public agencies concerned with the matters contemplated by the plan. The advance shall contain the following basic documents relative to the municipality:
(a) A general report on the physical and spatial development throughout history; the updated economic, social and physical condition; the role of the municipality within its region; the housing needs; and the conditions of the rural land.
(b) A statement of the public policy and the social, economic and physical development goals and objectives proposed for the municipality. The goals and objectives relative to the use of the land shall refer to all three types of land: urban, urbanizable and rural.
(c) Preliminary classification of the municipal territory into urban land, urbanizable land (programmed and non-programmed), and rural land (common and especially protected), as well as the general proposals for the management of these lands, including:
(1) A general proposal regarding the management of urban growth. It shall include design plans indicating the existing and proposed location of the general communal uses, including the infrastructure, and a general proposal on the use and intensity of use of the land and the characteristics of the structures and the public land.
(2) A general proposal regarding the management of the rural land. It shall include a discussion on the characteristics of the types of land and the possible and recommended uses.
History —Aug. 30, 1991, No. 81, § 13.005; Oct. 29, 1992, No. 84, § 62; Sept. 7, 2004, No. 258, § 33; Oct. 24, 2005, No. 132, § 1.