A lawsuit filed against the Municipality of San Juan seeks to stop a parking lot project on land at Escambrón. The complaint alleges the Municipality lacks legal authority to dispose of the land because it has no title, among multiple other defects. The plaintiffs say that through Ordinance Number 4 the Municipality intends to segregate a parcel to create an enclave within Escambrón and, after the parking lot is built, create a new independent parcel.
The suit argues this amounts to privatization, and that it is unclear whether the Municipality would, at public expense, arrange easements over other unidentified public-domain lands to serve a private parking lot. The filing stresses that the land is designated for outdoor recreation by deed and by law. It also says the Municipality did not certify a delimitation of the maritime-terrestrial zone, so the true boundaries are unknown and cannot be the Atlantic Ocean.
The land lies in a flood zone and a tsunami evacuation zone, so the Municipality allegedly cannot cede it for permanent structures. Surfers who frequent La Ocho gave sworn statements describing flooding on the site. The suit calls the ordinance vague, lacking plans or studies, and says splitting the transaction in two stages evades the Municipal Code's auction requirement.
It also alleges the public hearing was merely performative and that no hearing report was published for comment before the Mayor approved it.