In 1996, as Municipal Planning Secretary, I had to comply with Decree 992 of that year related to the operation of urban conservatorships in the municipality of Valledupar, a rule later repealed and/or modified by Decree 1052 of 1998, in force, on urban planning and construction permits issued by urban curatorships.
We were among the first to calculate the expenses or fees for the collection of licenses and send them to the Ministry of Housing, receiving recognition from this agency. The figure of the urban curator is a relatively new concept in the country that exercises public functions as a private individual.
These, by law, have these faculties, however, the municipal planning offices must submit concepts for a license to be issued, upon request of the curator. Our first urban curator was the architect Iván Zuleta, whose work he carried out from the city hall building.
The framework for action of urban curatorships is the POT of each municipality or district where they exist. The truth is that the municipalities and districts handed over urban planning to individuals and the POTs are increasingly accommodating to these interests. I haven’t found out about the content of our POT for a while but I am concerned about the ease with which licenses are being issued for the operation of gasoline pumps in places where it seems they do not fit, such as residential centers and roundabouts, for example, the de la Pilonera, located in a highly felt institutional area such as the Parque de la Leyenda, the UPC, the Parque de La Provincia, the Hurtado spa, the Gimnasio del Norte and in areas of circulation of residential neighborhoods such as the whole of the North and the Santa Rosalía urbanization. Also, near the Bilingual school, in a strictly residential area, they are building another.
It is a trend that many ex-mayors end up with bombs, the same as people with privileged information who have promoted this easy business; It is already customary to speak affectionately trivializing the monstrosity, for example, of the ‘Ava’ and ‘Tuto’ bombs, without an investigation into how they were built, at least I am unaware that it happened.
I suppose that for other former mayors the business is of another type, such as real estate, cattle raising or of another nature, unless their bombs appear on behalf of front men. A bomb, due to the nature of the products it handles, is not a guarantee for its neighbors, in addition to producing visual pollution. Perhaps the curators are sticking to the POT and if so, it deserves an urgent review, we cannot turn the city into a hypothetical bonfire; if not, then their conduct would have to be investigated; when missionality is lost, permissibility is possible. I remember that, in my first months in municipal planning, someone wanted to build a hotel on Simón Bolívar avenue, but the retirement was large and they wanted to reduce it; I did not want to authorize the license, but as soon as I left that office, the hotel was built as the owner intended without changing the rules.
I am reluctant to believe that the recently listed sites are ideal from the point of view of contamination and aesthetics. Most of the city’s inhabitants do not know what the technical and health criteria are for granting a license to a new EDS, but it can be assumed that it could depend on the size of the vehicle fleet, the demand and the type of land use. From what we are observing, any place in the city is likely to have a gasoline pump and we are already approaching 30 of them. It is possible that the city’s vehicle fleet and the demand for fuel require new pumps, but their location must be carefully studied; urbanism requires a dose of makeup so that the beauty of the city facilitates its tourist sale.
By Louis Napoleon of Arms Fr.