The regional environmental authority has begun assessing Modification No. 2 to the Gaibiel (Castellón) Master Plan. This modification, drafted by AUG-ARQUITECTOS, SLP, includes a series of objectives that affect the plan’s structural organization. This is because, although the modifications introduced in the TRLOTUP (Consolidated Text of the Land Planning and Urban Development Law) in recent years have somewhat simplified the environmental assessment and final approval of planning modifications, any urban planning procedure remains a complex process for a small municipality with limited financial and human resources. This complexity, which entails tensions and an added workload for municipal officials, makes it advisable to take advantage of the same urban planning procedure to address different issues, provided that the scope of the modifications remains within the same planning area. In this case, the structural planning. That is to say, for the sake of efficiency, and until a specific justification exists that would require processing a modification of the general plan with a single objective, it is preferable to wait as long as necessary and accumulate a set of smaller corrections to process them simultaneously. This has been the purpose behind this second modification of the Gaibiel Master Plan in 2025, and these are the reasons that explain the grouping of several objectives into a single instrument.
The accumulation of objectives is part of a strategy to optimize public resources, is perfectly legal, and does require, however, an orderly presentation of the modification’s objectives. This is what we propose to do below, and to this end, it has been considered most transparent to present all the changes grouped according to their purpose. The objectives of this modification have thus been organized into the following groups:
- TRANSFER OF THE PLANIMETRY TO A NEW, MORE PRECISE AND DETAILED CARTOGRAPHIC BASE.
- CHANGES IN THE CLASSIFICATION OF URBAN AND DEVELOPABLE LAND
- ASSIGNMENT OF A PUBLIC AMENITY USE TO AN AREA ADJACENT TO URBAN LAND
- INCORPORATION OF REGULATIONS FOR COMPATIBLE USES WITHIN THE PROTECTION ZONE (OR AREA OF ACTION) WITHOUT ALTERING ITS STRUCTURAL ZONING
- INCORPORATION OF REGULATIONS FOR COMPATIBLE USES WITHIN THE PROTECTION ZONE (OR AREA OF ACTION) WITHOUT ALTERING ITS STRUCTURAL ZONING AND INCORPORATION OF A NEW PLAN DELIMITING THE URBAN-FOREST INTERFACE ZONE, WITH A REGULATORY CHARACTER.
As a side effect, and in accordance with the high standards of quality that AUG-ARQUITECTOS, SLP applies to its urban planning work, this planning modification has been used to transfer its graphic content to a new georeferenced digital format (SHP) in order to standardize urban planning regulations and facilitate the review of the file by both the regional environmental and substantive bodies. In addition to streamlining the process, the new graphic representation of the plan has been developed using updated, higher-quality cartography, as the previous base map was fifteen years old and contained some technical errors. All of this represents added value for the Gaibiel Town Council, which will have a tool better adapted to its current and future needs.