The court ruling reinforces the guarantees-based and active listening approach adopted by the Urban Planning Department, which responded to submissions from more than 70 residents and decided to provisionally suspend the licenses for the petrol stations on Viridiana and Manhattan streets in order to review the public information process and its compliance with planning regulations with full legal certainty.
The legal process will continue, with the city council maintaining the suspension of the granting of the licenses. The proceedings require the developer companies and residents to await an administrative decision. Serrano also expressed sympathy with Valdespartera residents, saying, "I understand them because that is not the right place."
In addition, the judge upheld the autonomy of the city government's administration by rejecting the developer's demands to force the council to submit all the files relating to residents' complaints in these court proceedings.
A CONTROVERSY THAT GOES BACK A LONG WAY
The controversy is particularly focused on Valdespartera, where the two stations are planned for Viridiana Street, next to the Sabina roundabout, and Manhattan Street, close to a residential area, educational facilities and play areas. Residents staged several protests, denouncing the facilities' proximity to homes, schools and parks, and also warning of vehicle and tanker-truck traffic on narrow streets.
Valdespartera residents even mobilized at City Hall last September. As a result of those protests, Serrano admitted that "granting the two Valdespartera licenses was a mistake" and said they were willing to rectify it, while the court case remains pending.
