The tables of restaurants, the chairs of hotels, and the furniture of businesses along the beaches could no longer be considered illegal invasions of the Maritime-Terrestrial Zone (MTZ) and could start to be allowed. This is the aim of the Law for the Development and Promotion of the ZMT proposed by Carlos Felipe García, a deputy from the Social Christian Unity Party (Spanish acronym: PUSC).
The MTZ is a 200-meter-wide strip along the beaches, divided into two sections: 150 meters of restricted zone, where municipalities can grant concessions for commercial and residential uses, and 50 meters of public zone measured from the high tide mark.
Article 20 of the law on the MTZ (No. 6043), approved in 1977, prohibits the use of the public zone of the beaches and establishes that it “shall be dedicated to public use, especially for the free movement of people.”
For deputy Carlos Felipe García, this prohibition “limits the ability of small entrepreneurs and local businesses to offer a more complete experience to tourists, who demand services such as chairs, umbrellas, or recreational equipment,” he told The Voice.
His proposal is to add two articles (22 bis and 22 ter) to the current law to allow the 50-meter public zone to be used for commercial purposes, an action currently prohibited and subject to municipal enforcement.
Article 22 bis would introduce the possibility for local governments to grant permits to businesses to “use furniture or equipment for the provision of support or complementary services, such as tables, chairs, umbrellas, and similar items.”
And Article 22 ter aims to allow permits to be granted to individual vendors for providing tourist services, “such as renting beach chairs, hammocks, umbrellas, sports equipment, and nautical activity gear, among others.”
The essence of the proposal lies in allowing them to carry out their activities under legal protection, which gives them the opportunity to formalize, access social security, become eligible for credit, and eventually expand their businesses,” commented Deputy García.
According to the deputy’s proposal, those who use the public zone for commercial purposes are required to clean the area daily and remove all furniture during closing hours.
Communities with opposing positions
The president of the Integral Development Association (Spanish acronym: ADI) of Playa Sámara, Patrick McGoey, does not support the initiative and categorizes it as a way to privatize public space.
“Turning 50 meters of public beach into commercial space betrays the trust that the community places in the government to protect public spaces. We firmly believe that the beach should remain a shared space for the enjoyment of all, both locals and visitors,” he commented.
On the other hand, the vice president of ADI Tamarindo (ADIT), Eduardo Vargas, views the project positively and believes that allowing commerce in the public zone is necessary in a beach like Tamarindo, where the prohibition does not prevent it from being filled with commercial activity. The eventual law, according to Vargas, would also help regulate informality along the coast.
The public zone is a place of a lot of economic activity that, although prohibited by law, is neither regulated nor managed. It’s free for all… The only way to prevent sales on the beach is to have municipal police here 24/7. That is utopian,” Vargas commented.
Deputy García explained to The Voice that the project does not include the payment of a fee for the use of the space, but it does propose that municipalities and local governments establish the conditions under which permits are granted.
For Vargas, from ADIT, it would be advantageous for municipalities to generate income from the use of the public zone because currently, illegal occupations do not yield profits for the municipalities.
Furthermore, Vargas believes it is necessary to restrict the perimeter of the public zone that will eventually be used for commerce. “We cannot say to take 100 meters, close off the beach, and have people walk in the water. That’s the part that I feel needs to be handled very carefully when regulating it,” he expressed.
Motions Against the Project
The project was presented by Deputy García in 2022, and its first vote was scheduled for September 23, 2024. However, the deputies did not proceed with it because the initiative received around 60 motions, many of which came from the Frente Amplio (FA) caucus.
For FA legislator Ariel Robles, the initiative is aimed at actions directed toward the privatization of coastal public areas. He also expressed concern about the possibility that visitors might have to pay for using the furniture placed on the beaches.
This project facilitates, in some way, the increasingly forceful privatization of access to the beaches, the privatization of areas that should not have any type of charge or limitation for all the people who visit them,” Robles stated.
On Monday, October 7 of this year, the Special Zones Committee approved only one of the motions. The project is back in the plenary to receive new observations from the deputies and be reviewed by the committee.
Robles does not rule out adding more motions to stop the project. “We will most likely present many more because we do not agree with this legislative initiative. We (in the FA) believe that it continues to emphasize the privatization of access to the beaches,” he emphasized.
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