Company Proposes Eco-Hotel Within Torrevieja Natural Park

[Carl]

https://www.informacion.es/vega-baja/20 ... 44986.html

Google translate minus video and images:

A company wants to build an eco-hotel on 17 hectares within the Las Lagunas de Torrevieja Natural Park

The company Inner Wellness Eco Resort is processing the construction of a complex with an eco-hotel on more than 170,000 square meters of rustic land in one of the best preserved areas of the Natural Park of the Lagunas de La Mata and Torrevieja, with vineyards and rainfed and irrigated crops next to the shore of the Matero wetland.

The firm presented the documentation to obtain the environmental assessment from the Generalitat, based on the existence of a previous traditional agricultural building, the Casa Sala, more than a century old, which occupies about 800 square meters, including the interior courtyard. And in March it also requested a certificate of urban compatibility from the Torrevieja City Council. Sources from the PP government team indicated that they were aware of the request and the project, while the Generalitat and the company have not commented on the result of the environmental procedure after being consulted by INFORMACIÓN.

Accommodation

The ambitious project foresees an accommodation complex supported by the rehabilitation and expansion of the building - currently in a state of semi-ruin - on the hill that rises above the landscape itself and in the installation of demountable, light cabins "anchored punctually" to the ground on 13,000 square meters. About 25 rooms in the construction adapted for that use and a similar number in the demountable cabins. In addition to the accommodation, it includes a large wellness area, parking, "pollination", "wet and dry salt marshes", agrivoltaic area -a solar plant on more than one hectare-, vineyard, permaculture and spaces in a natural state.

Certificate

The municipal certificate is favourable. However, it is conditional on any authorisation subsequent to the determinations of the Use and Management Plan, which is the regulation by which the protected area is managed, depends exclusively on the Generalitat and which fully affects the plot. The company would have used the option of environmental assessment before the Declaration of Community Interest - a more complex procedure - due to the existence of that old building as a justification to obtain the go-ahead.

According to the public access documentation to the project, on March 3 the developer submitted the application to obtain the certificate of urban compatibility provided for in the Valencian Law on Prevention, Quality and Environmental Control of Activities. The land is classified as non-developable land protected and regulated by the PRUG approved by the Council in 2010 and is classified by the PRUG zoning as a landscape protection area. According to the report, this category allows certain authorized uses, but always subject to the conditions of the master plan itself that prohibits, the same municipal technicians recall,in general the new buildings related to tourist and recreational activities within the Natural Park. The regulation only contemplates exceptions for singular constructions promoted by the park administration in equipment areas and for necessary services that eliminate existing impacts.

The same plan allows, in areas where the particular regulations authorize it, to enable existing buildings for tourist and recreational uses. This is where this initiative is trying to consolidate, which is also proposed in one of the few private properties affected by the Park. This conversion must be in accordance with the Use and Management Plan, resolve the treatment of discharges and respect the landscape characteristics of the area. And it incorporates another relevant precaution: the plot is affected by the dividing line between Torrevieja and Guardamar, according to the cartography of the Valencian Cartographic Institute. The document indicates that the Torrevieja City Council can only pronounce on the part located within its municipal area, a circumstance that forces the territorial limitation of the certificate and future licenses. The legal report warns that the overall activity of the ecohotel will require a parallel or coordinated processing with the City Council of Guardamar for the part of the plot that corresponds to that municipality. The file also states that the plot is affected in its northern part by the Maritime-Terrestrial Public Domain of the lagoon and by the protection easement.

Wellness

Along with the accommodation area, the wellness area is one of the centrepieces of the initiative. There they are concentrated, according to the design the studio specialized in sustainable tourism projects Zeroplus, the spa, "meditation areas", the natural pools and other services related to physical and mental health, uses that are located around a natural pool. The documentation indicates that the 6,900-square-meter "wellness zone" would be organized with "rituals inspired by the five elements of nearby nature, without imposing a single route on users." It is located in the old abandoned irrigation pond and in the documentation it appears adapted to the terrain below ground, without standing out from the landscape. The car park appears as a specific space for vehicles with almost 700 square metres "with accessibility criteria and nature-based solutions to reduce the impact on the environment". There is also "a pollination area to promote biodiversity and the natural pollination cycle" in more than 45,000 square meters and "a permaculture garden linked to sustainable and self-sufficient agricultural systems," on another 40,000.

Solar Plant

The agrivoltaic zone – a solar plant of more than 13,000 square meters – ensures that it combines agriculture and solar energy production. The text provides for integrating photovoltaic panels into the agricultural practices of the plot. In addition to this, there is a vineyard restoration area, located between the Casa Sala and the shore of the lagoon, to recover and maintain the vines "with sustainable agricultural practices". That area occupies another 12,000 square meters. It is one of the vineyards with the highest landscape quality in the La Mata lagoon: they are next to the salt marsh and the wetland, damaged to the north in the last two years, due to the growth of the El Raso urbanization with buildings of more than five storeys next to the shore of the Natural Park.

[freddo]

Sounds good but it will not be developed as specified and will turn out completely different
I wonder how big the brownies are