The palacio of a former councillor of the PNV in Zarautz has been decided to be demolished because it was built illegally
The case has been in court for ten years, and finally the Superior Court of the Basque Country has ruled what other smaller courts did not see: that the old farmhouse was not "renovated", but that a much larger building was erected and further from where it needed to be. It was done illegally.
Although they are the land of the Ayala Town Hall, the one in the middle of the matter is a house that is fully visible from Zarauzti, with eleven bedrooms, many more bathrooms and an industrial kitchen. It belongs to the family of a former councillor of the PNV in Zarautz and is located in the protected area of Talaimendi between Zarautz and Orio.
The Air Federation of Gipuzkoa filed its first complaint ten years ago because, under pressure from paragliding operators, the piece of natur-zone they used was fenced off and, apparently, the work could be illegal. Now, contrary to what has been said by the Azpeitia and San Sebastián courts, the Superior Court of the Basque Country holds that the building must be demolished and the land restituted, because the procedure was illegal, and that it will proceed to punish the Ayia City Council for improperly granting permits. This has been reported by the Second Chamber for Administrative Cases, the Tribunal of Judges Juan Carlos da Silva, Ángel Ruiz and Irene Rodríguez.
The illegal procedure
Whether or not the Amezi farm was legally "rebuilt" is at the heart of the matter. The owner of the farm, the Garrastazu family, is a family of eleven brothers, one of them is Maite Garrastazu, who at the time of the acquisition of the licenses and construction was the councilor of urbanism and works of the City Council of Zarautz.
Since the farm was located in the protected area, according to the laws of urbanization of the Ayala City Council, the building can be reformed or rebuilt at the most – if it is proven to be in a precarious situation – but always within a radius of 50 meters of the original building. And, if it is rebuilt, the government regulation mandates that the new building maintain similar measures. The ruling of the Supreme Court of the Basque Country states that the legislation was broken.
The Gipuzkoa Air Federation collected in the denuncia that the farm had 183 square meters and the 469 new buildings; and instead of doing it within a radius of 50 meters, the building is located at least 200 meters from the original. The Ayala City Council argued at the time that having eleven bedrooms and so many bathrooms was due to the "unusual composition of the family".
The SOS Talaimendi platform, promoted by paragliding enthusiasts, denounced that what they were building was a "hotel". However, it has not been used for tourism in recent years; it has not been proven.
There have been long delays in the courts. He has changed judges and instructions, and with the decision of the Superior Court of the Basque Country, the path has not ended, extending the period of appeal to the Garrastazu family and the Ayala City Council.
The last five years have been quiet in the courts. The last time the case was temporarily closed in December 2019 by a third Guipuzcoan judge, forced by the mistake made by the previous judge.
We analyze the case in depth in this report, in May 2020:
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To be honest, I don't know why I'm writing this. In today’s hostile environment, opinions of this kind are not well received. Perhaps LUZ will not publish this because it does not correspond to the opinions they have published so far (but if they have finally decided to publish... [+]
