The current construction work at Epic Nosara—next to the Ostional National Wildlife Refuge and a few steps from Pelada Beach—does not comply with the environmental viability granted by the National Technical Environmental Secretariat (SETENA).
And that’s not all: the developer has not received SETENA’s approval to build, nor does it have the digital logbook, the mandatory instrument through which the institution ensures that the work complies with the viability permit.
On January 31, 2024, Setena approved Epic’s environmental viability (resolution No. 0135-2024-SETENA) for the construction of a two-story house, a ranch, and a shala (yoga space) on property 5-221651-000.
Originally, the other four houses in the project were located on separate properties. Setena considered that they did not need environmental viability because their constructions did not exceed 1,000 square meters (m²) and were not in environmentally fragile areas, as indicated in the Regulations for Environmental Assessment, Control, and Monitoring (Decree No. 4389).
However, in 2025, the development company merged all the properties into a single one in the National Registry. With this change, the construction footprint on property 5-221651-000 practically tripled: it went from 1,192 m² to more than 3,000 m², according to the construction plans registered with SETENA. This does not include the 627 m² of construction area for house #6, which the developer built without the knowledge of either the Municipality of Nicoya or Setena.
In the resolution granting environmental viability to Pacific Trust and Escrow Services—the developer of Epic—the institution is emphatic in warning that “any modification must be reported to SETENA so that an environmental assessment of said modification can be carried out.”
Environmental viability is a prerequisite for obtaining building permits, according to the Nicoya Municipality website. To allow construction to resume, the local government used Epic Nosara’s original documentation as a reference, i.e., prior to the consolidation of the properties into a single one and the consequent increase in construction area. Based on this administrative criterion, the municipality gave the green light for the project to continue.
Impunity in the Epic Nosara case: the municipal investigation has been going on for almost a year without establishing responsibility for the granting of construction permits to a real estate complex that lacked water availability.
Through its communications department, the local government stated that it did verify that the project was environmentally viable and admitted that the merger of properties may imply changes before SETENA.
“The Municipality does not have the authority to modify, update, or reclassify an environmental viability already granted, nor to determine ex officio whether a subsequent registration act, such as a possible reunification of farms, constitutes a substantial change to the project originally evaluated,” responded the municipality.
According to SETENA engineer Andrés Cortés, the change in farm consolidation requires the developer to request a modification to the environmental viability. But to date, Setena has not received any request from the Epic developer.
They cannot be building more than what is stated in the description of the original resolution,” emphasized Cortés.
La Voz attempted to speak with Steven Ferris Quesada, representative of Pacific Trust, to hear his version of the lack of updating of the environmental study and the reasons why the works continue without meeting all of Setena’s requirements.
The media outlet contacted him by phone and WhatsApp, and also sent specific questions to the email address provided by his assistant, Maria Fernanda, who was asked to forward the message to Ferris. At the time of publication, La Voz had not received a response.
Municipality consults Setena on validity of environmental viability, in response to question from La Voz
To resume construction, the Municipality of Nicoya only asked Pacific to present the water availability that the local government omitted when it granted the construction permits between May and April 2024, according to local government engineer Roberto Campos.
On December 19, the municipality gave Epic the green light to resume construction after it presented a concession granted on November 4, 2025, by the Water Authority (DA). The permit allows the use of well GA-403 located on the farm where the project is currently concentrated.
“(They did not have to submit a new environmental study) because the project application has already been reviewed as such and approved in accordance with it at the time (…) The environmental impact is assessed before there is any actual impact,” said Campos.
In response to inquiries from La Voz about the resumption of construction, despite the lack of viability, the municipality decided to send a query to Setena to determine the legality of Epic’s viability, as stated in official letter DPUD-07-2026, which the local government shared with La Voz.
“Considering that the registry reunification could imply a variation in the material configuration of the project and that the principle of environmental impact integrity requires that projects be analyzed as a whole when there is functional or spatial unity, this Municipality formally proceeded to make an inquiry to SETENA,” the municipality reported.
Edgar Cárdenas, a lawyer and engineer who collaborates with the Federated College of Engineers and Architects (CFIA), is emphatic: Epic Nosara’s environmental viability may not be valid because it does not match the actual magnitude of the project.
“If conditions changed at the time and the number of homes increased, that means there is a change in environmental viability that must be reported to SETENA, and the corresponding additions must be made. That is very clear. They have no other choice,” Cárdenas said.
Epic continues to ignore SETENA and build without the institution’s approval.
Cárdenas explained that the municipality had an obligation to require this update before authorizing the resumption of construction. He also pointed out that the project’s environmental manager is responsible for reporting any changes and keeping the digital log.
According to SETENA, Epic Nosara does not have an environmental manager.
The regent, who must be appointed by the developer and registered with Setena, must supervise the environmental parameters approved in the viability study and record progress in a digital log.
Pacific Trust appointed geographer Luis Edén Navarro as project regent in June 2024.
“I have nothing to do with those projects. I resigned about four months ago. I have nothing to do with those people,” said Edén. He also commented that it was only a request and not an appointment, even though his name appears as an environmental consultant in the viability resolution granted to Pacific.
In April 2025, the geographer assured La Voz that he was unaware of the start of construction. “I didn’t know it had started. (…) The thing was that people did it [the construction] quietly. They didn’t tell me anything.”
Without a manager, there is also no log for this project, which means that Epic Nosara is moving forward without Setana’s controls and blindly.
Epic Nosara’s environmental viability permit hides a catch: the developer failed to inform Setena that construction had begun.
“The digital log for this file was not approved due to an error in the developer’s application document, therefore, they are not authorized to begin construction. According to the latest movements of the file in the correspondence system, as of June 2024, the developer has not corrected the issue,” Cortés explained via email.
The six houses that make up the complex are in an advanced state of construction. One villa is even 85% complete, while others are around 60% complete, according to the inspection report by the Municipality of Nicoya carried out on January 28, 2026.
Since April 2025, Epic Nosara has lacked a permit from Setena because it has not received approval for the environmental management stage, a requirement that follows environmental viability and provides the endorsement for the start of construction.
Read also the first installment of this second part on the Epic Nosara case:
Read the installments of the first part on the Epic Nosara case:
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