- a)Access: A road onto which a lot or property fronts.
- b)Hostel (Albergue): A type of establishment with comfortable rustic characteristics, which provides lodging especially to athletes or groups united by a common interest or activity. There are various types, among them, mountain refuges, fishing camps or hostels, beach hostels, country or youth hostels, whose characteristics and additional services vary according to their specialization, and shall be given the most appropriate denomination based on these.
- c)Maximum height: Established from the ground to the ridge point of the building.
- d)Street furniture (Amueblado): A set of urban elements, such as benches, trash cans, tables, posts, shelters, signs, and placards that support services for user comfort.
- e)Apartotel (Apartotel, Aparthotel): A type of establishment that provides lodging service for a daily or monthly rate, and which has the following characteristics:
1. It may be composed of apartment-type units with one or more bedrooms, private bathroom, dining room, and kitchen.
2. It occupies the entirety of a building or a completely independent part thereof, and its dependencies constitute a homogeneous whole, with entrances for the exclusive use of the establishment.
3. It includes floor service in the rate.
4. It has parking for guests' vehicles, and 5. Its design respects norms that guarantee an adequate relationship with the sustaining natural environment.
- f)Green area: Open areas covered with grass or trees, for public or communal use, destined for recreation and ornamentation.
- g)Botel (Botel): Hotel establishment that is located on a floating installation or on a passenger vessel that is permanently or temporarily immobilized to fulfill these functions.
- h)Bungalow: Establishment that provides lodging service for a daily or monthly rate, with units that are independent, with one or more bedrooms and private bathroom; they depend on a main entrance, reception, and may provide restaurant, bar, souvenir shop services, etc.
- i)Cabin (Cabina): See "Tourist dwelling (Vivienda turística)".
- j)Campgrounds (Campamentos): A type of establishment that provides a rental service, for a daily or monthly rate, of duly delimited and conditioned lands to facilitate outdoor life, in which one spends the night in a tent, in a habitable trailer, or similar.
- k)Guesthouse (Casa de huéspedes): A type of establishment similar to a boarding house (pensión) that does not offer food service.
- l)Use certification (Certificación de uso): Document that certifies the assigned use of a specific parcel and in which the suitability of the land for the construction of works covered by this Regulation is established. Said certificate shall be issued by the Municipality upon request of the interested party.
- m)Concession: Public contract between the Municipality and the concessionaire, which grants the latter the right to use the land on a lot within the Maritime Terrestrial Zone, specifically in the restricted zone (150 m); it does not include the Public Zone (50 meters fronting the littoral sector).
- n)Concessionaire: Legal entity or individual who holds a concession contract in the Maritime Terrestrial Zone.
- o)Condohotel: A lodging operation modality in which the property ownership of the building is subject to the Condominium Property Law (Ley de Propiedad Horizontal), No. 3670 of March 22, 1996, or applies principles contained therein, and in which hotel operation is guaranteed through a management contract with a hotel operating company that assumes the functions corresponding to managers according to the law and those derived from the hotel nature of the operation. Seventy percent of the time per year, the establishment must be dedicated at minimum to lodging service and the remaining thirty percent may be used by the unit owners (condóminos).
- p)Conservation: In urban planning, it is the action that, according to the provisions of Urban Development Plans, is oriented towards maintaining the ecological balance, the good state of constructed works (buildings, monuments, plazas, and parks), and in general, everything that constitutes the historical, cultural, and social heritage of population centers.
- q)Construction: Any structure that is fixed or incorporated into the land: it includes any work of building, reconstruction, remodeling, or expansion that implies permanence.
- r)Net density: It shall be understood as the ratio of dwelling units divided by the total occupied land surface, after previously subtracting road surfaces.
- s)Density: It consists of the number of dwelling units per unit area (in this case, the estimated unit of area is the hectare).
- t)Right-of-way: It is the measurement of the public use zone, taken between the demarcation lines established by the MOPT, the corresponding Municipality, or a Regulatory Plan.
- u)Buildings: All those works destined for habitation, work, recreation, tourism, etc.
- v)Hotel: It is a type of establishment with a minimum of twenty rooms, or more according to the corresponding category, which provides lodging service for a daily rate, as well as food service, at the client's choice. Between the lodging service and the complementary services, functional integrality must exist. It must occupy the entirety of a building or an absolutely independent part thereof, with dependencies that constitute a homogeneous whole, with entrances, corridors, stairways, and elevators for the exclusive use of the establishment. Its sustainable nature indicates an adequate relationship with its surroundings and conservationist solutions for the disposal of waste, wastewater, etc.
- w)Residential hotel (Hotel residencia): A hotel that does not offer food service.
- x)Offender (Infractor): An individual, legal entity, or any Government dependency that does not abide by the present Zoning Regulation.
- y)Infrastructure: Urban-type services and installations, such as: roads, drainage, aqueducts, sewer systems, electricity, telephony, and other similar ones.
- z)Lot: A parcel of land of any size, whether granted in concession or under private property.
aa) Tourist motel (Motel turístico): A type of hotel establishment that provides lodging service for a daily rate and that has the following characteristics:
1. It offers travelers parking for their vehicles within the same establishment.
2. It is preferably located outside urban centers and in the vicinity of public highways.
3. It has a minimum of five rooms, all with private bathroom and independent entrance from the exterior.
4. The building does not exceed two stories, and it is indicated on the exterior thereof, by illuminated signs that allow easy reading from the highway, both day and night, whether there are vacancies or not.
bb) Number of stories: It must be understood as total stories or total or partial coverage of the floor area (mezzanine counts as one story or floor).
- cc)Occupancy (Ocupación): It consists of the percentage of land that may be covered by constructed areas, habitable or not, such as access ways, parking lots, swimming pools, parking areas, and other non-natural coverings; internal green areas are considered residual areas not included in the occupancy percentage; they must be destined for gardens, lakes, fruit trees, ornamental plants, etc.
dd) Boarding house (Pensión): A type of small establishment that is normally family-run, with a minimum capacity of three rooms, and that offers food service on a full-board or half-board plan, at a single global rate.
ee) Construction permits, permits, and approvals: The respective Municipality shall not grant construction, expansion, or remodeling permits for buildings or developments that contravene the zoning or any of the provisions of the present regulation. Every construction must have its respective plans approved by the competent institution, the ICT, the INVU, and the Municipality. In parallel, the corresponding tax payments must exist. Likewise, business licenses (patentes) or use permits shall not be granted for any property on which the requested use does not conform to the zoning or the regulation. The granting of business licenses must have the permission of the Municipality, and these must be granted to current concessionaires to whom tourism-recreational-commercial projects and others that merit said license have been granted.
ff) Use permit (Permiso de uso): Authorization given by the Council of the Municipality Administering the Maritime Terrestrial Zone that allows, without having a concession contract, making uses on a parcel such as; planting trees, putting up fences, making water wells, but does not permit the construction of any permanent-type building.
gg) Owner (Propietario): The person(s), company(s), or dependency(ies) that hold(s) title of ownership over lands adjacent to the Maritime Terrestrial Zone.
hh) Protection: It is that area in which urban works are subject to restrictions.
- ii)Forest regime: A set of provisions of a legal, economic, and technical nature, established by the Forest Law (Ley Forestal) and its regulations, decrees, and resolutions derived from its application, which regulates the conservation, protection, and rational use of forests and forested lands.
jj) Tourist residence: See "Tourist dwelling (Vivienda turística)".
kk) Setbacks (Retiros): Open, unbuilt spaces between a structure and the boundaries of the respective property.
- ll)Timeshare (Tiempo compartido): A system or regime by means of which a person acquires a right of use, enjoyment, or any other right relating to the utilization of a vacation dwelling unit, for specific or determinable periods within each year during the validity of the respective contract, upon payment of a certain price.
mm) Sustainable tourism: Land use characterized by maintaining an adequate human-environment-sustainability relationship, both in natural history, adventure, or similar activities, as well as in the relationship between buildings and the sustaining environment.
nn) Urbanization: The subdivision (fraccionamiento) and habitation of land for urban purposes through the opening of streets and provision of services.
oo) Conditional use: It is that which, while not being the most recommended for the land conditions, does not generate conflict with the permitted uses. This use may be given to a land, upon special authorization from the Municipality and the Costa Rican Institute of Tourism and the INVU.
pp) Conflicting use: It is that which does not conform to the zoning indicated in the Regulatory Plan. Conflicting uses are not permitted under any condition.
qq) Existing conflicting uses or buildings: Any conflicting use or building existing as of the effective date of this regulation may continue with the following limitations:
1. It may not be expanded or remodeled, and only improvements may be made to maintain aesthetics, hygiene, and safety, with prior authorization from the Municipal Council.
2. Existing conflicting lands or buildings are momentarily subject to its regulation, provided they were built or occupied in accordance with the laws in force before the enactment of Law 6043 and with the respective permits.
rr) Permitted use: It is that use of the property or lot, in which the concessionaire has the possibility of destining their land with no more restrictions than those indicated herein, and after completing the processing of the construction permits required by the Municipality.
ss) Use: Utilization, on a particular basis, of areas or properties.
tt) Public road: Spaces destined for the circulation of vehicles or pedestrians.
uu) Tourist dwelling (Vivienda turística) (cabin, cottage, summer house, etc.): A type of establishment that provides lodging service for a daily or monthly rate, with units that are independent, with one or more bedrooms, private bathroom, kitchen, independent entrance from the exterior, and parking for guests' vehicles.
- vv)Single-family dwelling (Vivienda unifamiliar): The building provided with habitable areas destined for the shelter of a single family.
ww) Zoning: It is the division of a territory into use zones, for purposes of its rational development.