P.R. Laws tit. 21, § 4623
The municipalities, the Planning Board, the Permit Management Office and the Housing Department, as may be pertinent to each according to its jurisdictional scope, and pursuant to the regulations adopted by the Planning Board for that purpose and the provisions of an ordinance plan or a land use plan, are hereby empowered to provide, administer or require a project developer to accompany a project by an investment or cash contribution for the provision of affordable housing. Said investment or contribution shall not exceed five percent (5%) of the construction cost of the project. It shall be understood that the terms “investment” or “contribution” for the provision of affordable housing may include both the cession of land as well as the construction, reconstruction or improvement of buildings used or to be used as affordable housing.
The linkages shall have the purpose of propitiating that the less-favored social groups benefit from the economic growth of the municipality.
The linkage mechanism may only be imposed on highly profitable projects with a construction area of more than twenty-five hundred (2,500) square meters. Public works and improvements as well as residential projects shall be exempted from linkages, except for those whose sale price per unit is more than one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars ($175,000). The Planning Board shall review periodically and at least every five (5) years, the limit of the aforementioned sale price, taking as a basis the fluctuations in the general consumer price index for an entire family as established and certified by the Department of Labor and Human Resources.
The moneys collected by virtue of the imposition of linkages shall be covered into the corresponding municipality or public agency and shall be used exclusively for the purpose provided in this section. In the case of a municipality the prior approval of the Municipal Legislature for the use of the funds shall be required.
History —Aug. 30, 1991, No. 81, § 13.025; Oct. 29, 1992, No. 84, § 83.