Dénia, ordered to pay 13 million to the landowners of hort of Morand

The municipality of Dénia has been sentenced to pay the owners of 9.000 square meters of Hort de Morand total 12.986.262,18 euros for expropriated lands that were once protected.

3.500 square meters of the area were rated as protected in the PGOU of 1990 green area, and the General Plan Transitory changed the number of meters to 24.000. Having been annulled by the Supreme Court Interim Plan, the protection is canceled, so that the city is currently studying the effect of the judgment and actual Affected meters.

The councilor for urban planning, Pepa Font, announced that the Local Government Board decided to file an appeal while negotiating with the owners, offering them an alternative that does not imply payment or return the urban land classification.

For Font, the most viable alternative is to negotiate with the owners the possibility of moving the buildable from that area to another location once it is later in the General Plan of Dénia, although it shares the need to protect the space in which they are the remains of the Roman Dianium, which would be a major cultural and tourist attraction for the city.

According to the mayor of Town Planning for the City it is currently unfeasible pay a high amount, so it relies on the willingness of owners to negotiate a solution that pleases both sides.

As explained by the socialist councilor Vicent Grimalt, «en la sentencia se puede observar claramente que toda la tramitación de este tema ha sido en años de gobierno del PP, ya que en fecha 4 de marzo de 2002 se solicitó expropiación de la finca siendo alcalde de Dénia el popular Miguel Ferrer y reiterándose el 1 de junio de 2009, cuando ya era alcaldesa Ana Kringe tras la moción de censura de 2008».

Vicent Grimalt regretted that Ana Kringe and Pepa Font had not decided to negotiate with landowners before the sentence and urged them to hire the best law firm to defend best municipal interests, as mortgage this sentence by City of Dénia life.