Playa del Carmen, Q.R. — A new construction site in Playa del Carmen was shut down Wednesday by city inspectors after the illegal removal of trees. The closure was in response to citizen outrage at the felling of two large city trees.
A company building a new hardware store along 115th Avenue is said responsible for cutting down the two large trees, each of which were around 10 meters in height. The company was not granted permits to cut the trees.
According to María de Lourdes Várguez Ocampo who heads the Solidaridad Sustainable Environmental department, the company has been fined 320,000 pesos and will be legally required to plant two equivalent sized trees. Each of the trees are said to cost around 130,000 pesos to purchase and plant.
The company is reported to have requested permission to cut the trees they claimed were in the way, but municipal officials denied the request.
“They had already requested the felling of those trees. They were denied because apart from the fact that they are trees that are many years old, they are trees that have become emblematic,” she said.
The trees were reported cut down by citizens last weekend after, according to Ocampo, the company requested felling permits on two occasions. Both times, Ocampo said, the municipality did not find the cuts viable, so their requests were denied.
The owner of the property reportedly argued that since the trees were on his land, he could cut them.
“He will have to replace the trees that he deforested and it will have to be with large trees,” Ocampo said.
Ocampo said that failure to pay the fine and replant the equivalent trees will lead to a denial of a business operating permit.