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Alicante, February 27, 2025. The Full Council of Alicante City Council approved this Thursday to make public the specific modification number 4 of the partial plan of the PE/APA-9 sector, related to the construction of a private hospital in Vistahermosa. The proposal was approved with the votes in favor of the PP and Vox and against the PSOE, Compromís, and EU-Podem. The deputy mayor, Manuel Villar, highlighted that «the file is complete, backed by legality, and available to the municipal groups that request it», and its final approval is in the hands of the Generalitat.
This modification involves changing the classification of block M-15 in the sector, where a private hospital is being built, from residential use (Single Family Housing) to special tertiary use, in direct application of article 93.A of the Urban Planning Regulations of the General Urban Development Plan (PGMO) of Alicante. An article introduced by specific modification No. 42 of the PGMO that, Villar recalled, «was approved in full with the favorable vote of all municipal groups except the abstention of EU-Podemos.»
The partial plan modification will also allow an increase in building capacity and an increase in height from the currently allowed in that block. This increase in building capacity entails an economic compensation from the company to the City Council of 785,000 euros, which will be allocated to the Municipal Land Heritage, in addition to the fine that the responsible company, MPT Alicante, must pay for the urban irregularities committed, by carrying out works outside the license granted in 2022.
Villar recalled in the Full Council that in specific modification number 42 of the PGMO, the City Council addressed the adaptation of its urban planning, separating the regime of public and private endowment uses, granting the latter the status of special tertiary uses. It represents the enabling legal framework for the processing of subsequent specific modifications to increase building capacity for the implementation of new private facilities, currently called special tertiary, intended for educational-cultural, sports-recreational, or health-care uses, exclusively, in accordance with Article 37 of the TRLOTUP, which will be processed as a mere consequence of specific modification 42 and in accordance with its provisions, as is the case with specific modification 4 of the APA/9, whose public exposure obtained approval this Thursday in the Full Council.
Although urban planning legislation allows for the simultaneous processing of different planning instruments consistent with each other, it was not until April 23, 2024, once specific modification number 42 of the PGMO was definitively approved, that, through an agreement of the Local Government Board, the processing of this file began.
Compatible with the sanctioning file
«Having verified an infringement by the developer for building two more floors than allowed by the building permit, the suspension of the works and the initiation of both sanctioning and legality restoration procedures were carried out,» Villar recalled.
Based on these facts and «in order to make a decision regarding the continuation of the processing of this file,» the deputy mayor explained, «the head of the Urban Discipline Service and the General Director of the General Plan were requested to issue reports on whether the processing of the sanctioning and legality restoration files hinders, conditions, or questions the processing of specific Modification No. 4 of the APA 9 Vistahermosa Partial Plan, and, if not, whether the continuation of the mentioned specific modification is appropriate.»
These reports endorse the continuity of the file processing by considering, on the one hand, that «it is being processed, under the protection of MP42, within the framework of the general interest and in accordance with current legality» and, on the other hand, that «it does not hinder, condition, or question the processing, as of the current date, of the mentioned Specific Modification nor the existence of the sanctioning and legality restoration files or that the alleged commercial entity responsible for the acts subject to the legality restoration and sanctioning files is the same commercial entity that has requested the initiation of the specific modification.»
In conclusion, the deputy mayor emphasized that «the file is complete and available to the municipal groups that request it», as well as that «the law contemplates this scenario and its consequences, so the modification is backed by legality.»
