Fall 2023
Hi Everyone:
As usual this time of year bad things are happening in Todos Santos.
Destruction of the Dune on the Project Shut Down Last Year
This past week Eddie Odgen started tearing up the dune lot near the turtle release on Calle Vista Ballenas. (This is the same project we had gotten shut down by PROFEPA last year). We immediately filed a complaint with PROFEPA and were informed that the permit was issued due to a judge’s ruling and that an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was not required so PROFEPA never did one as required by law. This is confusing to us for many reasons:
First, why did PROFEPA shut down the project last year and now is allowing it to continue.
Second, why does the new permit posted on site say the permit is subject to an EIA and federal approval and now PROFEPA is saying one is not necessary.
Third, the Municipality of La Paz promised us that the new PDU they were working on would protect the dunes so why did the building department lie to us and issue a permit leading to the destruction of the dune.
What happened last Tuesday clearly illustrates three important things:
Developers like Eddie Ogden are more determined than ever to violate the law and develop on the dunes and if Eddie is successful, there are a bunch of other dune lots people will be encouraged to build on.
La Paz is not only incapable of stopping them, but they are also colluding with them and profiting in the process.
PROFEPA, the regulators we thought were our allies, seems to have now decided to allow building on our dunes without the required environmental assessment required by law. We need to shame them into doing their job.
We Need Your Help. We have organized a protest for Tomorrow Saturday September 9th at 8:00 am
Brave members of PTS showed up when the bulldozers arrived on Tuesday and confronted Eddie and the contractor but were unable to stop the project. Eddie claimed that he could build on the dunes because they are stable. This is a lie because dunes covered with grass are considered unstable. The grass vegetation they removed protects them from erosion.
We are staging a protest tomorrow (Saturday) at 8:00 am at the site. Our hope is that by protesting and posting the protest on social media and in local publications, as we have in the past, PROFEPA will show up as they did before and be forced shut down the project.
So we really need you now to show up with signs and protest the illegal construction and also to protest the other even bigger problem we have with the municipality, their new zoning rules as described below.
We Have a Huge Problem that Will Threaten our Water Supply and Change Todos Santos Forever
As most of you know the Municipality told us in April they were going to “update” our PDU in April. We were able to pack the first public meeting that took place in Todos Santos and IMPLAN (the agency creating the new PDU) stated that the limitations on density would NOT be more "lax" than those existing in the PDU our community developed that is currently in force.
Well surprise, surprise that was a lie. We just received the latest draft of the new PDU and it stated for the first time the new zoning rules and provided a new zoning map. Here is what the rules do:
Eliminates all minimum lot sizes throughout the region and increases the allowable density by up to 500%.
Significantly increases the allowed lot coverage area for construction, known as COS
Increases the allowable square footage of the structure.
Instead of a 2-story max and 10 hotel rooms hectare (one room per 1/4 acre), it allows four-story hotels to be built at a much higher density.
Creates a commercial and multi-family residential area where up to 6 stories plus a shade structure can be built.
Completely changes the historic center of the pueblo. Instead of only allowing a height of 9 meters or 2 stories, it will allow 3 stories plus a shade structure on the roof with no maximum height limit and eliminates the protections for historic buildings.
Does nothing to address the current water crisis and it does nothing to explain where the new development will get their water because the Todos Santos aquifer is already being significantly over extracted.
Does nothing to address our current lack of available electricity during the summer months. People who have gone through this summer know what we are talking about. We have had a significant number of power outages that will only get worse if we don’t stop development until the proper infrastructure is in place.
Changes to the RT zone
The location of the current RT zone has not changed and remains the majority of the coastal zone from Agua Blanca to Elías Calle. This zone includes Las Tunas, San Sebastián, La Cachora, Cerritos and Pescadero.
The current PDU requires minimum lots of 2,000 m2. A new H-BD zone replaces the RT zone in the new PDU and will allow lots as small as 400 m2. This means that where currently 1 house could be built on a 2,000 square meter lot, the lot could be subdivided and five 400 m2 lots could be created, each with its own house, a 500% increase in the density.
The COS or construction area allowed on the lot has been increased from 25% to 40% of the lot. So, on a 2,000 m2 lot instead of the construction area not exceeding 500 m2 or 5,381 square feet, it can now be 1,000 m2 or 10,762 square feet.
The CUS or whole house square footage to lot size ratio has doubled from 60% of the lot to 120% of the lot.
The limit on the number of levels has not changed but a shade structure for another entire level will be allowed.
Current RV Zone East of the RT Zone
This zone is now referred to as the H-MD zone in the proposed PDU. It is the current RV area and is located in the Las Tunas area east of Las Playitas.
The new PDU will allow lot sizes to drop from 1,000 m2 to 200 m2 so that density can increase by 500% there also. The COS increases from 25% to 40% and the CUS from 60% to 120%. It will also allow building up to 3 stories plus a shade structure.
Changes to the Central Historic District
The current PDU has these rules for the historic center:
Subdivision of properties is not allowed.
The maximum height of the buildings is 9 meters or 30 feet.
Commercial businesses only on the ground floor.
The original construction cannot be altered.
The new PDU refers to the historic district as the CU-MD zone. It contemplates lots of 200 to 300 m2, two floors and a shade structure, and lots of more than 300 m2 to 400 m2, three floors and a shade structure so it doubles the building height currently allowed. It is not clear if the original construction can be altered, or if commercial businesses can be located on several floors.
New Hotel District
This section in the new PDU is extremely confusing regarding the number of units allowed, but our current PDU only allows:
10 rooms per acre or 1 room per 1/4 acre of land.
COS of 25% and a CUS of 60%
Maximum 2 floors or 7.5 meters
The new PDU allows hotels to be built in a new T-MD zone. If the lot is 800 to 2,000 m2, the COS is 65% and the CUS is 195% and 3 stories are allowed with a shade structure on top for a total increase of 160% to the COS and an increase in the 225% to CUS.
If the lot is 2,000 to 5,000 mm2, the COS is 60% and the CUS is 240% and 4 floors with a roof shade structure allowed for 140% increase to COS and 300% increase to the CUS. This means that the square footage of the hotel triples and the number of floors doubles. And instead of Eco Hotels with a lot of open space separating each room, we will have an area of mid-rise hotels.
What We Plan to Do
Protect Todos Santos is submitting comments to IMPLAN laying out the flaws in their plan and its non-compliance with the requirements of the General Law of Human Settlements (GLHS). It is a great document developed by the federal government which lays out the requirements for sustainable development, citizen participation in the development of the PDU, citizen oversight of the plan, and requires penalties for violators (of course La Paz left that little item out of their plan).
We are participating with a group of 10 non-profit environmental organizations in Baja Sur trying to force the Municipality into modifying the current plan to create sustainable development as required by the GLHS governing the creation of these plans. The word sustainable is found 158 times in the law.
If the zoning plan currently in the draft PDU is submitted to the Board of Regents for a vote we will flood them with emails pointing out the flaws in the plan and ask them to revise it or to not approve it.
If the Board of Regents approves the plan without meeting the requirements of the law and retaining the zoning map and rules our community created, we will file a lawsuit to void the plan. Citizen groups have been successful in using the federal courts to void plans in both Cabo San Lucas and Cancun. This would leave our current PDU in place.
We don’t believe the local Mexican community is aware of the proposed zoning rule changes and our water scarcity problem, so we are going to educate them through by developing Facebook and Instagram pages and setting up information tables at events to enlist their support.
How You Can Help
The most important thing for us to do now is raise the necessary funds we need for additional staff for outreach and for legal fees for John Moreno to continue to represent us during what may be a long legal battle. So please consider making a one time or ongoing donation by visiting our website at www.protecttodossantos.org.
Send this information out to everyone you know and ask them to join us.
When we stage protests, which really work we will let you know. Having a large number of citizens showing up and posting it on social media, like the protest tomorrow at the dune site, we know from past experience will make a huge difference.
Final Thought
Please keep in mind that if enacted, the proposed PDU in addition to completely changing our pueblo through density and height increases, will have a devastating impact on our already dwindling aquifer and could cause our aquifer to run dry again as it did in 1950 when it did not replenish itself for 25 years.
