The Alicante Administrative Court has ruled in favor of Calpe City Council, declaring the lapse of the license it granted in December 2017 to the company Sol de Calpe for the construction of a two-tower, 35-story hotel on a plot of land located on Avenida Juan Carlos I, near the salt mines. It therefore dismisses the company's appeal and considers the Calpe City Council's decision to be "in accordance with the law."
Calp City Council declared the license void after verifying that the license execution period had elapsed without the works having begun, and following the approval of Amendment D14 to Calp's General Urban Development Plan, which included new urban planning regulations that the granted building permit did not comply with.
In the appeal, Sol de Calpe argues that the license should not be revoked, considering that a series of circumstances have occurred since it was granted that have prevented the start of the works. In this regard, reference is made to the administrative appeal filed by the Valencian Government in 2018, which led to the suspension of the license. This appeal, along with the subsequent appeal, was ultimately dismissed by a ruling by the High Court of Justice, which was declared final on September 10, 2021.
The company further claims that it has repeatedly stated its intention to begin construction through various documents submitted to the City Council's registry office, and that, therefore, there is no "conduct of abandonment or withdrawal of its intention to build."
However, the Administrative Litigation Court states in its ruling that: "The plaintiff merely states that he intends to carry out the works, but this is nothing more than a simple, empty declaration. Since the finality of the Chamber's judgment dated December 10, 2021, he has not taken any material action aimed at carrying out the works."
The ruling also refers to the fact that the company lacked the financing to carry out the work, as well as to the modification of the planning to which this project did not comply. "As jurisprudence indicates, the license guarantees the right to build, but not the immutability of the urban planning regime," it emphasizes.
This is a first-instance ruling, so an appeal can be made.
