2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-THREE - Public Planning and Development (§§ 1 — 11273) › PART VII - Community Development (§§ 7001 — 8058) › Chapter 171 - Rehabilitation and Development of Río Piedras (§§ 7001 — 7016) › § 7001 - Definitions

For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms or phrases shall have the meaning stated hereinbelow, except when the context clearly expresses or specifically indicates otherwise:
(a) Río Piedras. — Means that part of the legally constituted Ward of Río Piedras in the Municipality of San Juan, which is [bordered] to the north by the Piñero Expressway, and the Ponce de León and Gándara Avenues, to the south by the 65th Infantry Avenue, to the west by the Muñoz Rivera Avenue, and to the east by the José Celso Barbosa Avenue. These shall be deemed to be the general boundaries. Within these general boundaries, the Planning Board may establish priority areas and more precise boundaries. The purpose pursued by this demarcation is to include all the sectors of the Río Piedras Ward that are deteriorated and exclude from the benefits of this chapter those developed sectors. The more precise demarcations to be established by the Planning Board shall include the sidewalks to the expressway, street, or avenue to which reference is being made.
(b) Substantial rehabilitation. — Means any reconstruction work equal to or greater than thirty percent (30%) of the market value of the property to be rehabilitated, excluding the value of the land where the same is located. The certification to these effects shall be issued by the Regulations and Permits Administration.
(c) Improvement. — Means any investment equal to or greater than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) made to improve the physical conditions of a property intended for cultural use, such as: a movie theater, theater, concert hall, art gallery or any other structures used for cultural, theatrical or artistic purposes. The certification to these effects shall be issued by the Regulations and Permits Administration.
(d) Reasonable Rental Act. — Shall mean Act No. 464 of April 25, 1946.
(e) Adjusted rent. — Shall mean the rent established by the Department of Consumer Affairs for the rehabilitated units, located in properties under the Reasonable Rental Act. This rent shall be established by taking into consideration only the total amount of the investment in the rehabilitation made and the related costs, added to a reasonable return on the investment.
(f) Eligible property. — Any real property within the boundaries of the Río Piedras Ward intended for residential or multi-purpose use; any real property of which not less than seventy-five percent (75%) is devoted to cultural use such as a movie theater, theater, concert hall, art gallery or to any other use of a cultural, theatrical or artistic nature; any property declared by the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture to have a historical or architectural value, regardless of its use; any structure or place that has been included by the State Office of Historic Preservation in the National Register of Historic Places of the United States Department of the Interior; any real property not [in] use or used for a purpose other than those specifically mentioned, that is rehabilitated or constructed for residential, multi-purpose or cultural use, as described, or used as a building for parking vehicles. A building for parking vehicles shall be understood to be a multi-level structure that is rehabilitated or constructed to be used for that purpose, through payment by the general public. In order to be eligible, all properties previously described shall meet the requirements of their corresponding special planning zone, and in every case, the properties shall be eligible as long as they are devoted to the uses and in the proportions established hereby.
(g) Market value or Market price. — The prices at which the property would be appraised for lack of state regulations, which is done by private agents for its purchase or sale.
(h) Successor businesses. — Means any financial activity substantially similar to a financial activity eliminated, whereby the owner or proprietor of the new activity owned twenty-five percent (25%) or more of the shares or interest in the suppressed activity.
(i) Moderate and low-income families. — Means any person or family whose maximum annual gross income does not exceed six times the sum of the principal and interest of the mortgage payments, the property insurance and the compulsory normal use of water and electric power when buying a dwelling, or in the case of leasing a dwelling, whose maximum income is equal to that established by the affordable housing programs of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico for moderate and low-income families.
(j) Special Planning Zone. — Means an area demarcated by the Planning Board in order to promote the integral development and rehabilitation of the same, taking into consideration the factors that encourage the retention and attraction of population, provide economic vitality and foster a more adequate land use, as well as the creation of a functional and aesthetically pleasant urban atmosphere. For this special area or zone, the Planning Board shall draft guidelines, regulations and any other document addressed to establish the conditions needed to propitiate the rehabilitation and integral development of the same, pursuant to the powers conferred by §§ 62 et seq. of this title.
(k) Designated zone. — Means a special planning zone in the Río Piedras Ward of the Municipality of San Juan for which the Planning Board has completed a process for adopting an integrated development plan, and the special regulations and the application of existing regulations that govern land use and the building characteristics, pursuant to the provisions of §§ 7003 and 7005 of this title and the provisions of §§ 62 et seq. of this title, or in default thereof, when thirty (30) days have passed after the time stipulated in the designation schedule for the zone pursuant to § 7005 of this title.
History —July 5, 1995, No. 75, § 15, renumbered as § 16 on Aug. 15, 1999, No. 236, § 4.