Santa Cruz Approves Heritage List Amid Port Site Dispute

Santa Cruz has just approved a new list of protected cultural heritage sites. This is a big step for preserving the city's history and buildings. However, it has also brought to light a complicated disagreement about who controls important sites in the port area.

This new list, approved on February 3rd, protects 787 different things – from buildings and special trees to public spaces and ancient fossil sites. The goal is to legally protect these items from future building projects. This adds to 195 properties already protected in the El Toscal area, with more to come in Los Hoteles-Pino de Oro and Antiguo Santa Cruz.

But the final version of the list leaves out about a dozen important historical sites in the port. These sites were in an earlier draft from 2020, which aimed to protect their size, height, roofs, and fronts. They were removed because the Port Authority stated that no other local government can set rules that affect how state-owned port areas are used or managed.

The port sites left off the city's protection list include well-known buildings like San Juan Bautista Castle, the Pilot's House, the Ventoso warehouse (formerly Musa), the silo, the Valleseco coal bunkers, the Port Authority building, the Port Works complex on Anaga and José Martí avenues, the Miguel Pintor school, and the Auditorium. Also excluded are important city features like the Tritón crane (which the Port plans to remove in 2025), the Canopy, and the Lighthouse. Even though these are formally excluded, the new Catalogue strongly suggests they should be protected and added to the Port's own special plan, acknowledging their "great historical and cultural importance for the city."

The need for these protection measures is even clearer because, since the 2020 draft was made and this new document approved, Santa Cruz has lost twelve properties. These were either torn down because they weren't protected, or they collapsed. Examples include the modern-style apartment building between Galcerán, Miraflores, and Ramón y Cajal streets; the old Coral hotel in Miraflores; and the Pérez Soto homes in Carmen Monteverde, and Chávez Reyes homes in La Rosa.

With 787 sites now protected, this new Catalogue is a big step up from the 113 items listed in the 2005 plan and the 269 in the 2013 plan (which was later cancelled). This wider protection gives these properties and city features important legal safety against future changes like dividing land, new construction, or demolition. Because of this, the Urban Planning Department has stopped issuing building permits for two years that might affect these protected sites. This is a temporary measure to prevent any potential legal issues.