Santa Anita Hills, a polemic real estate development that environmental activists say threatens the integrity of the Primavera Forest in suburban Guadalajara, has been given the green light to proceed by federal authorities.
The decision is a setback for Tlajomulco city hall and Salvemos el Bosque, the NGO that has carried the fight against the development of this 59-hectare section of woodlands known as Bosque Alto – separated from the main body of the Primavera Forest by just 2.4 kilometers.
Tlajomulco Mayor Alberto Uribe said his staff would be looking at their legal options in the wake of the decision by the federal Environment Secretariat (Semarnat) to approve urbanization of the rural zone.
Work on the Santa Anita Hills project has been suspended since October last year following a ruling by the Jalisco Administrative Tribunal. It is not yet clear how Semarnat’s decision will affect this ruling, since several other legal actions in various courts are pending.
In an article published last year in the Guadalajara Reporter, correspondent John Pint interviewed Salvemos el Bosque’s Rafael Rodriguez, who grew up in the pueblo of Santa Anita, close to Bosque Alto. “I’ve seen deer in these trees right around us, and lynxes and foxes and skunks and raccoons,” he said. “To see all of this disappear would be a real shame.”
Rodriguez also highlighted the impact the development – that is slated to include both low- and high-rise housing for up to 2,000 residents – would have on the area’s aquifer and water resources, as well as local transportation infrastructure.
In a communique issued at the end of 2016, developers Inmobiliaria Rincón del Palomar defended the project, saying it respected all environmental norms, promising to carry out extensive reforestation to compensate for all the trees that are uprooted. The bulletin noted that the project – that will include its own well – would not have a profound impact on traffic congestion, since the new residential subdivision will be connected by an underground tunnel to Prolongation Mariano Otero.