A federal judge has ordered the Chapala government to stop construction of a high-rise apartment building going up adjacent to the Nimue nautical sports club in lower La Floresta.
The court order stems from a lawsuit filed by the owners of five properties located in the immediate vicinity on Paseo La Huerta.
The amparo (injunction) suit was admitted by the Sixth District Judge in Administrative and Labor Matters in the State of Jalisco under file number 711/2017.
On March 3, the judge ruled in favor of the neighbors, granting a provisional suspension of the project and issuing notice to local authorities to immediately halt construction work at the site and refrain from granting new building permits.
The notification was delivered to Chapala City Hall on March 6, giving the government a three-day window to carry out the order. After no action was taken by the deadline date, on March 13 the judge emitted a second resolution, imposing a fine of 50 days’ minimum salary (approximately 40,000 pesos) for failing to execute the suspension within the correct time frame.
According to José Pablo Ramos Castillo, legal representative for the plaintiffs, the court order and sanctions apply to the city’s director of Urban Development, head of Inspection and Regulations and the mayor, as chief of government. Further non-compliance could subject all three officials to stiffer fines and removal from office. They could also be charged with committing federal crimes.
Ramos explained that the suspension order remains in effect indefinitely until the court comes to a decision regarding the alleged violations of the property owners’ rights. The case hinges on evidence suggesting multiple irregularities in the municipal government’s handling of authorization for the change of land use and construction permits dating back from 2012 through 2016.
Chapala’s urban development plan and La Floresta regulations categorize the subdivision as a low-density residential zone of single family homes not exceeding two stories in height.
The condo project, originally described as a “boutique hotel,” is depicted in promotional materials as two residential towers standing on the perpendicular that rise six to seven floors above ground level and comprise 30 apartments.
At press time, the city government had not responded to this newspaper’s request for a statement on the status of the legal situation.