Playa del Carmen, Q.R. — A new Playa del Carmen real estate development that was suspended has now been closed. Orlando García González, the Municipal Director of Regulation, Evaluation and Environmental Impact confirmed the closure Friday.
He said the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa) has closed the Playacar real estate development after his agency had previously ordered the suspension.
The project was suspended after deforestation over an area larger than authorized, among other irregularities. Since their suspension, federal officials became involved and have since shut it down.
On Thursday, federal inspectors from Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente (Profepa) closed what was to be a new up-and-coming residential project in Playacar Phase II.
To date, 42 complaints have been filed with agencies such as Urban Development, the Environment Ministry and Profepa itself against the real estate developing company. Civil associations have also collected more than 200 signatures to stop the real estate project.
In an official statement, Profepa said “in response to public complaints about deer sightings in Playacar Phase 2 in the municipality of Playa del Carmen, Profepa conducted an inspection visit and detected a property with a land use change on forest land without environmental impact authorization, leading to its closure.
“On May 26 and 29, Profepa inspectors conducted technical visits and forestry inspections due to land use changes to the property located within the Playacar Condominium, where they detected the removal of secondary shrub vegetation from the medium-sized, semi-evergreen forest.
“Furthermore, the authorization for a change of land use on forest lands issued by Semarnat was not accredited, so the security measure of temporary total closure was imposed.
“Profepa will continue with the administrative procedure that is established.
“R”egarding the white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus, that have been detected in the same area, it is important to note that the developer of this private housing complex must rescue and relocate the wildlife. Wildlife rescue is one of the conditions established in its resolutions on environmental impact and/or land use change on forest lands, and to comply with them, it must obtain the necessary authorizations—including a possible wildlife relocation—from the General Directorate of Wildlife of Semarnat.
“Profepa will verify that the company is effectively responsible for the rescue of the white-tailed deer and that it has all the authorizations required by law.”
