P.R. Laws tit. 21, § 4602
The municipalities are hereby authorized to adopt ordinance plans pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. These ordinance plans shall constitute instruments of the municipal territory. They shall protect the land, promote the balanced, beneficial and efficient use thereof and propitiate the thorough development of each municipality. Regarding the regulations for the use of the land, ordinance plans shall include all matters relative to territorial organization and with those construction projects within the jurisdiction of the Planning Board and the Permit Management Office. The municipality may, pursuant to the provisions of §§ 4651 et seq. of this title, request that the regulations of other public agencies be substituted and amended.
Ordinance plans shall be drafted, adopted and revised pursuant to the provisions of § 4606 of this title and shall be compatible with the laws, public policies and regulations of the central government as provided in § 4609 of this title. There will be three (3) types of ordinance plans which shall handle the various aspects of the municipal space ordinance: The territorial plan, the extension plan and the area plan. The territorial plan shall be the first ordinance plan to be drafted by the municipality and it shall be an indispensable requirement that it be in effect so that the municipality may be able to adopt another ordinance plan.
No municipality shall approve developments which may limit or impede the free access of the public to the seacoast or beaches nor entail their private or exclusive enjoyment to the detriment or in prejudice of the legitimate right of the people of Puerto Rico to the free use and enjoyment thereof.
In order to propitiate the maximum compatibility of the ordinance plans with the regional and general public policies of Puerto Rico, the Central Government shall retain, through the Planning Board, the faculty to initially approve the ordinance plans and review any part thereof. Once an ordinance plan is adopted, an orderly process is hereby authorized to transfer to the municipalities certain territorial ordinance faculties of the Planning Board and the Permit Management Office to issue authorizations and use and construction permits and to incorporate amendments to the ordinance plans. The transfer process shall be carried pursuant to the provisions of § 4610 of this title.
The form and content of the various ordinance plans and the transfer and administration of the territorial ordinance faculties, as well as all matters included in this chapter provided in §§ 4601–4618 of this title, shall be established and provided by the Planning Board through regulations.
History —Aug. 30, 1991, No. 81, § 13.004; Oct. 29, 1992, No. 84, § 61.