P.R. Laws tit. 23, § 227h
The Planning Board shall be the agency in charge of gathering the information and data provided by the government agencies and shall make available to the citizens the land and resources inventory to be developed with the cooperation and the information digitalized or provided by electronic means by the government agencies, pursuant to the procedures established in § 227c and §§ 7711—7717 of this title. The end-product of said task shall be set forth in one or several zone maps as established in the Planning Board procedures, using the most advanced global positioning systems (GPS) and geographic information systems (GIS) technology and that of any technological information system available that would contribute to the achievement of the objectives of this chapter and to the compliance with the technical requirements and standards set forth in §§ 7711—7717 of this title.
The map or maps that will gather the inventory required by virtue of this section shall be used to develop regional plans, territorial ordinance plans, the plans for the development of the public infrastructure for planning the conservation and preservation of natural, historic or agricultural areas that require protection, among other ends, directed towards the establishment of a long-term comprehensive overview. Said map shall also serve as the basis for the implementation by the Environmental Quality Board of the requirements and the supervision for complying with environmental documents, environmental evaluations and declarations of environmental impact established in Section 4(c) of the Environmental Public Policy Act.
The aforementioned inventory and map shall include the information provided by the agencies with jurisdiction in said matters, but without this constituting a limitation, the following:
(a) Identification of the natural resources of Puerto Rico, such as, but not limited to, public property or private property, the flora, the fauna and the condition of the air, as well as their physical, geological and environmental characteristics and their real condition;
(b) identification of the structures, zones or areas of historic, cultural, archeological or aesthetic value;
(c) identification of agricultural land, agricultural reserves and other land with agricultural potential;
(d) identification of the zones of tourist interest as well as other areas that although not having been designated as such, have high tourist potential;
(e) identification of areas prone to natural risks or to disasters or emergencies of other types, be they natural or technological, as well as those places whose water, air or land is polluted or that suffer significant pollution caused by noise or vibrations;
(f) identification of land of high ecological value that because of its particular characteristics must be protected in perpetuity;
(g) identification of school zones, as established pursuant to §§ 206 et seq. of this title;
(h) identification of the classification, zoning and actual use of the land;
(i) identification of public and private infrastructure, both existing and in development, and
(j) the presentation of all the information on economic, social, cultural and public health aspects that may be pertinent to the objectives of the Plan.
The map required by virtue of this section must state the date of its most recent revision pertaining to each of the data items it is bound to provide so that the public officials and employees, as well as the citizens who use the aforementioned map, may know precisely how current is the information contained in said document. The Planning Board, with the collaboration of the corresponding agencies, must update the inventory that is gathered in the maps within a term of not more that two (2) years after the approval of the Plan.
The information gathered shall be promoted to the utmost degree possible so that it may be shared by and be useful for the various government agencies and the general public in the implementation of policies and actions directed towards achieving the sustainable development of Puerto Rico. Following what was established in the aforementioned §§ 7711—7717 of this title, the government agencies concerned shall determine how they shall defray the cost for reproducing the information gathered so as to make it available to persons or institutions interested in the same.
History —Oct. 3, 2004, No. 550, § 11.