TERRAMAR PROPRIETORS’ ASSOCIATION
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FIRST STAGE (1980)
The Terramar Proprietors’ Association (APT) was founded in 1980 with the main purpose of securing finance for asphalting the streets in the district, paving sidewalks and installing street lighting. As the public authorities were not willing to subsidize the total amount of the project, the initiative had to be financed largely by the neighbours themselves through a fairly substantial, non-refundable monetary contribution.
Once this objective was achieved, the APT became dormant, with the de facto disappearance of its members and governing body until the beginning of the new century.
SECOND STAGE (2002)
The APT reappeared with renewed vigour at the beginning of the current century, namely at an Extraordinary General Assembly held on 4th August 2002, at which the Statutes were modified to comply with the current regulations.
The situation that triggered off the resurgence of the Association was the “threat” that the publication of the draft of the imminent modification of the Municipal Urban Planning Plan (POUM) for Sitges represented and, especially, the possibility of modifying the uses of the Terramar Sector. This alerted both old and new neighbours and house proprietors, who channeled their concern through the Association, in the face of the clearly expansionist proposals included in the draft and, in particular, those related to the neighborhood of Terramar. The plan proposed allowing the establishment of restaurants, cafeterias and other commercial leisure activities, with the exception of discotheques.
The plan also intended to allow uses such as offices and administrative, health-care, cultural and educational premises. Hotel uses were to be allowed on 4,000 m2 sites or even on 2,500 m2 sites provided they comprised three quarters of an entire block.
The APT Assembly firmly opposed the change of concept of the neighborhood in favour of its maintenance as an almost exclusively residential area, with the exception of the few already existing hotel establishments. The APT joined the Citizens’ Platform formed by all the neighborhood associations in Sitges to oppose the Town Council’s expansionist proposals. A new Local Council was elected in 2003, and the Platform was then able to negotiate with them, the criteria to be followed in drawing up the new POUM. In this way, restrictive urban planning regulations were definitively determined in the sector. The only exception was the incorporation in the POUM of a “special plan” for the ten terrace houses that had already been built in the Plaça del Vinyet, a building that clearly transgressed the prevailing planning regulations in Terramar (district within which they were situated) at the time of their construction. Thus the APT resigned itself to accepting their definitive legalization in order to put an end to a situation that was already consolidated, but since this moment of its revitalization, has tried to take care that these or other irregularities contrary to the urban regulations implemented in the POUM, cannot recur.
THIRD STAGE
(2002 – 2003 TO THE PRESENT)
Since 2002, the APT has worked continuously in an effort to ensure the maintenance of the quality of urban development, as just commented, and to achieve improvements in the neighborhood.
The main problem that had to be dealt with once the work related to the drafting of the POUM was completed, was the inconvenience caused by L’Atlàntida nightclub, located at the end of Les Anquines beach but within the protected (restrictive use) maritime-terrestrial strip. In fact, the noise generated by the music was much less annoying in the Terramar district than that caused by the customers who parked in the area, where they assembled for pre- and post-party binges.
Eventually, the pressure exerted by our Association, that took an active part in the meetings with the other parties affected by the same problem, contributed to a certain extent to the final closure of the nightclub in 2013 and the reestablishment of tranquility in the neighborhood .
Year after year, the APT has insistently been making claims and requests to the City Council and, consequently has managed to achieve some “small” positive actions for Terramar, such as:
- Better road signing that has reduced the number of accidents at crossroads;
- Car parking prohibition areas in narrow streets near the beach;
- The partial elimination of architectural barriers on sidewalks in the form of small ramps;
- Groups of selective recycling bins every two blocks;
- More frequent pruning of shrubs and trees.
Some sidewalk pavements have been repaired, thanks to SOREA’s (water supply company) works that replaced the obsolete piping system three years ago. Similarly, the street lighting, installed in 1980, is currently being replaced by a modern system that applies LED technology, and this will also contribute to improvements in the pavements.
However, despite the fact that the neighborhood is a high quality residential complex, pioneer of the so-called Garden City concept in the entire Mediterranean and one of the features that differentiates Sitges from other well-known coastal towns, there are some urban maintenance deficits. Most of these, already identified in the Assemblies held in the early years of this century, are unfortunately still awaiting solution, such as:
- The removal of aerial telephone and electricity lines, by burying them underground. As the corresponding companies have no obligation to bury them and the Town Council maintains that it has no jurisdiction over these lines, this may be difficult to achieve;
- The resurfacing of the many of the sidewalks that have been broken up and raised by pine tree roots, for the piping and lighting replacements have only partially solved the problem;
- The asphalting of some the streets, also affected by the roots of the trees;
- Improvements in street cleaning, especially, around the groups of recycling bins.
This presentation of the APT can be completed with the sections on Statutes and the Composition of the current Governing Body.
