The press, and in particular the television channels, have said almost everything in relation to the sinkholes, but without explaining the underlying issue, possibly because their journalists and editors are unaware of it, which is why in The Voice of the Leftovers We complement the interview that Alejandra Valle and Daniel Stingo gave us about this nonsense.
This being the case, we have the duty to communicate to public opinion what the restrictive urban regulatory framework in that sector of the commune of Viña del Mar orders, for the scene of the events.
Indeed, the isolated high-rise building, Euromarina II, affected by a new sinkhole, a residential structure built by a private investment fund, owned by the Cueto and Martínez families, concessionaires of the Viña del Mar casino, in partnership with the Piñera family, officially received by the Directorate of Municipal Works (DOM) of that city on 03/15/2006, located at 1855 Las Perlas Street, it was built with a poorly granted permit, since its location corresponds to the zone V3 of the Communal Regulatory Plan (PRC) of Viña del Mar in force since 2002, which, according to the inclination of the dune, does not allow this type of high-rise construction in said area.
Well, this binding local regulation refers to the subdivision and building conditions for the land located between Av. Edmundo Eluchans (Camino del Alto Reñaca-Concón) and Las Perlas Street; and between the latter and Av. Borgoño, noting that in this urban sector easements of up to 6 meters wide will be established for the passage of the pipelines, in favor of the municipality of Viña del Mar, linking the 3 named roads. These easements must be established and materialized at the time investors develop and/or build their real estate projects.
This regulatory instrument establishes that in this area the minimum property area is 2,000 m2 and a high density of 1,300 inhabitants per hectare, the maximum land occupation coefficient for isolated buildings is 0.30 and for staggered ones it is 0.60, that is , the expert professionals who created this PRC, with well-founded technical and ethical reasoning, increased this specific standard only for stepped buildings built on this fragile sandy soil. For this reason, this type of buildings, also known as terraced buildings, are mandatory if they are located on land with a maximum slope equal to or greater than 29°. Let us remember that in these stepped buildings the load is distributed equally on the dune and therefore there are no sinkholes in these.
About this Euromarina II building, fifteen years ago, we published in the newspaper The nationreproduced in Urban Platformthe column that can be seen in this link in which certain irregular situations were revealed that were ultimately not resolved, because the municipal authorities of that time did not take notice, a very recurring improper practice at the municipal level.
It is evident then that, since Euromarina II is an isolated high-rise building, built on a slope that exceeds 35°, the building permit is flawed, a municipal administrative act that cannot be invalidated, as ordered by article 53. ° of the General Law of Urban Planning and Construction (LGUC), since a period that exceeds that established there has elapsed, nor can it be annulled by the courts of justice because it is prescribed.
But yes, the owners of the apartments in that building, who already have ownership titles, due to the moral and economic damage they are assuming, will be able to exercise the respective legal actions, demanding fair compensation, against that municipality for having granted a permit contrary to the law and against the private investment fund, which did its lucrative business on a dune, despite having full knowledge of the fragility of that sandy soil.
In any case, it is clear that the other buildings, also affected by previous sinkholes in said dunes, were also built violating the aforementioned slope in zone V3 of the indicated PRC of Viña del Mar, more than enough reason for the families who cannot live in their properties, hire competent lawyers to defend their legitimate interests in court.
This case of real estate corruption, tolerated by the previous municipal administration of Viña del Mar, is not an isolated case, as some influential actors in our country like to argue. As experts on the subject, we can assure that corruption, especially municipal corruption, is usually repeated throughout our long and narrow strip of land.
