2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-THREE - Public Planning and Development (§§ 1 — 11273) › PART VIII - Public Planning II (§§ 9011 — 9047) › Chapter 230 - Puerto Rico Permit Process Reform Act (§§ 9011 — 9028i) › Subchapter III - Permit Managers and Environmental Compliance Evaluation Director (§§ 9013 — 9013b) › § 9013b - Authorities, duties, and functions

The Permit Managers and the Environmental Compliance Evaluation Division Director shall have the following general duties, authorities, and functions as conferred under this chapter, as may apply:
(a) They shall evaluate all documents submitted in order to issue their recommendations as part of the processing of permit applications filed with the Permit Management Office, including the environmental document presented by the applicant, the Categorical Exclusion certification or the Categorical Exclusion Compliance Assessment, as the case may be, which must be submitted when filing the application.
(b) They shall require additional information in order to evaluate applications as established under subsection (a) of this section.
(c) They shall determine, after having conducted the corresponding evaluation, whether the action applied for complies with the provisions of this chapter, Planning Regulations, the Joint Permit Regulation or any other legal provisions that fall within the purview of their respective division or unit, as established under § 9013 of this title.
(d) They shall send their recommendations to the Executive Director within the terms established under the Joint Permit Regulation.
(e) They shall request that the concerned government entities provide assistance through specialized technical staff, who shall be the Permit Officers required to discharge the functions of their unit or division in coordination with the Executive Director and in compliance with applicable regulatory requirements.
(f) They shall work in close coordination with Permit Officers to efficiently discharge their functions.
(g) They shall circumscribe their recommendations within the bounds of competence of their respective units or divisions, as set forth in § 9013 of this title and pursuant to the provisions of this chapter or any other applicable law germane to the functions of each division or unit.
(h) They shall establish, in coordination with the Executive Director, a chain of command to be resorted to during short absences of the Executive Director, but this provision shall not limit those of § 9013a of this title.
(i) They shall send their recommendations to the Executive Director in order for the latter to take the corresponding action.
(j) They shall issue recommendations by request of autonomous municipalities with I to V granted hierarchy under a competency delegation agreement pursuant to §§ 4001 et seq. of Title 21, known as the “Autonomous Municipalities Act of Puerto Rico”.
(k) They shall comply and apply laws, regulations, and the public policy, as these relate to their specialized purview of the Permit Management Office unit or division under their charge or supervision.
(l) As for Health and Safety and for Constructability Managers, they may grant environmental health and fire prevention certifications, final determinations, and permits for small and medium-sized businesses (PyMES, Spanish acronym). These determinations shall be deemed to be final determinations from the Management Office.
Permit Managers and the Environmental Compliance Evaluation Division Director shall send to the Executive Director and the Regional Director, as may correspond, their recommendations in writing. As for discretionary matters, the Executive Director shall send these to the Adjudicatory Board for its corresponding evaluation and final determination. As for ministerial matters, the Executive Director shall evaluate these and sign and issue the corresponding final determination notice.
Any party adversely affected by a final determination regarding a PyMES permit may request a review, subject to the provisions set forth in Subchapter XII of this chapter. When a final determination by a permit manager is challenged, the Executive Director shall represent the permit manager.
History —Dec. 1, 2009, No. 161, § 3.3.