2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-THREE - Public Planning and Development (§§ 1 — 11273) › PART I - Public Planning (§§ 1 — 229ccc) › Chapter 1A - Planning Board (§§ 62 — 66c) › Subchapter I - Organic Act (§§ 62 — 63j) › § 62t - Public improvements and roads

The Integral Development Plan, the Four-Year Investment Program and the Land-Use Plans and any other planning instrument or document prepared on the basis of this subchapter, shall be at the disposal of the Legislature and of each individual member thereof, of all federal officers and bodies, of all the Commonwealth officers and bodies, as well as of any private person in the exercise of their respective powers, rights and duties relative to matters contained therein. No improvement, acquisition, sale or change in the uses of lands or other properties of the Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or of any of its government bodies, or of any public utility, publicly owned, shall be authorized, aided or undertaken, either in whole or in part, by any executive officer or body of Puerto Rico, unless the proposed location, nature and extent thereof, are not in conflict with what is indicated in the Integral Development Plan, the Four-Year Investment Program and the Land-Use Plans of Puerto Rico. No public road shall be traced, projected, constructed or improved in Puerto Rico by any officer or body nor shall any officer or body furnish lighting service, waterworks or sewer connections, installation of telephone facilities or render any kind of public service on, to, or along any road which has not previously received the legal status of a public road under a law for the purpose, unless it is a road of those approved by this subchapter, or unless approved by the Board. In order that there may be a complete coordination in public works, the Board shall adopt, as it may deem advisable, the necessary standards to allow the best utilization of the resources. These standards shall specify the criteria that shall be used to determine which type of public works need not be submitted to the consideration of the Board or of the Permit Management Office for approval or disapproval; Provided, That in formulating said standards in connection with public works of the municipalities, the Board, using among other criteria the cost, their bulk or size and the impact of the work, shall determine what public works are to be exempted. From any decision of the Board disapproving a public work project, pursuant to this section, appeal may be taken within the term of twenty (20) days to the Governor, who may amend, alter or reverse said decision. These provisions shall not apply to any public improvement or acquisition authorized, or otherwise undertaken, exclusively by the Government of the United States of America.
The prohibitions of this section shall not be applicable if the property has been acquired or contracted for, or the construction work has been commenced, at least thirty (30) days prior to the effective date of the pertinent regulations and is actually in progress on said date.
In those cases which shall be brought to the consideration of the Board pursuant to the standards adopted by it, no construction or site plans shall be made or caused to be made by any officer or government body of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico without its preparation having been first authorized by the Board, upon filing of a consultation; Provided, That the Board may, by resolution, exclude from such consultation those plans which because of their nature it believes should not be submitted for its consideration.
Any matter submitted to the Board, under the provisions of this section and not disapproved within a period of sixty (60) days, shall be considered approved, unless the officer or body submitting it gives its consent to a further delay. These provisions shall not apply to preliminary surveys or consultations.
History —June 24, 1975, No. 75, p. 183, § 21, eff. July 1, 1975.