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The developers of the Epic Nosara real estate project posted a sign of the National Environmental Technical Secretariat (Spanish acronym Setena) on the exterior of the construction site, indicating that the project had received an environmental permit. However, the sign is misleading.
Pacific Trust and Escrow Services, the company listed as the developer of the project, applied for environmental viability and received approval from Setena on January 31, 2024 (according to Resolution No. 0135-2024-SETENA). However, they failed to comply with a key requirement: notifying the environmental authority prior to the start of construction so that Setena could verify that what is being built coincides with what was approved.
The project boasts a complex of six villas distributed on five lots located near the tennis courts of Playa Pelada and bordering the Ostional National Wildlife Refuge (RNVSO).
The developer only required an environmental permit for one of the five properties where it is building, according to the Environmental Evaluation, Control, and Monitoring Regulations (Decree No. 4389). The other four properties did not require a permit since construction did not exceed 1,000 square meters and they were not located in an environmentally vulnerable area.
According to Setena’s file, the environmental permit granted to Pacific was for the construction of a two-story house, a pergola for family events, a courtyard, gardens, setbacks, and shala.
Although the environmental institution approved the permits, “they did not have the right to start construction” because they were required to notify Setena prior to building, Setena’s Secretary General, Andrés Cortez, explained to La Voz de Guanacaste.
The real estate companies Century 21 and Nosara Real Estate Agency had listed Casa Corcovado for sale in their catalog, one of the six villas in the luxury real estate project, Epic Nosara.
After obtaining environmental authorization, the developer then notifies Setena so that a registered Setena environmental regent can supervise that the approved environmental standards are complied with. Otherwise, it’s a project that is built blindly.
“If they start to do something differently [from what was outlined in the viability permit], the regent has to notify Setena,” Cortez explained. The official also specified that, since environmental monitoring has not been initiated, the project lacks both a digital log and Environmental Control and Follow-up Procedures (Spanish acronym ICOS). Both tools are part of the building registration and supervision that must be carried out by the environmental institution.
According to the construction file, Pacific Trust appointed geographer Luis Edén Navarro as project manager in June 2024.
The geographer assured The Voice of Guanacaste that he was unaware that construction had started. “I did not know that it had started (…) The thing is that the people did it [the construction] quietly. They didn’t tell me anything,” said Edén.
Edén added that during the morning of April 24, he received a call from Epic Nosara’s developer, Steven Ferris, asking him to start the notification process. “How is it going to be almost built if I wasn’t informed when construction work started?” Edén said he told Ferris.
The mayor of Nicoya, Carlos Armando Martinez, promised to investigate the file of the permits granted without water availability. “We will not tolerate any irregularities,” Martínez promised.
On Wednesday, April 23, The Voice of Guanacaste sent more questions about the case via email and WhatsApp to Pacific Trust’s representative, Steven Ferris. However, he did not respond.
Environmental lawyer, Alvaro Sagot, explained that the regent’s logbook and reports act as the “eyes of the state”.
“An environmental (viability) permit is not a go-ahead and do whatever you want. In the logbook, the consultant has to anticipate and report on everything that is being done to Setena. He has the responsibility that nothing is being done which was not previously authorized” he said.
Construction of Epic Nosara shut down as of April 4, 2025Photo: Luis Diego Alfaro
A sixth villa hidden from Setena and the municipality
The Municipality of Nicoya conducted an inspection at the Epic Nosara construction site on April 1st, after La Voz de Guanacaste revealed irregularities related to the granting of construction permits. Building was authorized despite the fact that the project does not have water supply for construction or future operation purposes.
The Municipality of Nicoya shut down construction work on Epic Nosara as a result of The Voice of Guanacaste’s investigative report.
During the visit of the local government, the municipal officials identified a sixth house that does not have the corresponding construction permit from the local government, as detailed in inspection report No. MN-INSP-059-04-2025.
“As for house #6, it does not have construction permits at all (…) its walls have been erected and even the roof is in place”, details an excerpt of the document shared by the press department.
The sixth villa also eludes Setena’s radar, according to the files sent by the institution. This means that its construction, and possible environmental impact, were not scrutinized when the environmental permit was granted. Nor when considering that construction work on the other lots did not require viability approval.
According to attorney Sagot, if it is proven that the sixth house is within the lot that obtained environmental viability, the developer could lose the Setena permit, and the municipality could even seek the property’s demolition.
“Failing to put a single tree in the logbook, that alone is cause for a criminal, civil or administrative sanction. Not to mention if what is being built is, in addition, another house,” he concluded.
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