Sidewalk (Acera): a roadway for exclusively pedestrian traffic, arranged from the property line towards the public road.
Aquifer (Acuífero): a geological formation or structure of rocks, gravel, and sand situated above an impermeable layer that, due to its natural porosity and permeability, has the capacity to store water that circulates within it.
Affectation (Afectación): a limitation and condition imposed by the application of a Law or regulation on the use of a particular or public property or real estate, to allocate it totally or partially to works of public or private utility.
Stormwater (Aguas pluviales): natural rainwater that flows over surfaces, in the countryside, on streets and roofs, and is generally collected separately from sanitary water (aguas sanitarias).
Sanitary Water (Aguas sanitarias): water from toilets with physiological excretion residues that generally converges into a collection and treatment system.
Wastewater (Aguas servidas): aqueous discharge from sinks, sculleries, toilets, kitchens, laundries, with cleaning residues, detergents, routine residues of domestic and industrial origin; all generally converge into a collection system.
Pedestrian Mall (Alameda): a road for exclusively pedestrian traffic.
Storm Sewer (Alcantarillado pluvial): a network of underground pipes arranged for the capture, conduction, and evacuation of rainwater that is discharged into it.
Sanitary Sewer (Alcantarillado sanitario): a system of drains, sewers, and culverts used to collect and convey the (solid) and liquid waste of a city for its subsequent treatment and final disposal.
Alignment (Alineamiento): the line that indicates the maximum possible placement of the building with respect to the front of the lot.
Height (of the building) (Altura (de la edificación)): the vertical distance on the building line, between the official level and the average level of the roof of the top floor.
Front Yard (Antejardín): a free (private) garden area towards the public road, which must be left unbuilt; it implies an easement (servidumbre) or restriction of non-construction in the area between the property line and the building line.
Preliminary Project (Anteproyecto): A prior analysis stage of the needs program of a work and the interpretation and incorporation of basic studies into a preliminary approach or scheme for discussion.
Approval (Aprobación): A written and conforming resolution issued by the Municipality of Desamparados, to authorize the requests made by the owner of a property.
Area (Área): the surface area comprised within a perimeter.
Community Areas (community facilities) (Áreas comunales (facilidades comunales)): Areas that are allocated for public use, apart from streets and highways, for educational, health, worship, recreation, charity, and similar purposes.
Consolidated Industrial Area (Área consolidada industrial): An area where industrial development nuclei first began to form.
Building Area (Área de construcción): The sum total of the areas of the various floors that constitute a building, excluding rooftops, open balconies, and porticoes.
Urban Growth Area (Área de Crecimiento Urbano): An area defined as suitable for urban development.
Lot Area (Área de lote): The measurement of the surface area comprised within its boundaries.
Permeable Area (Área permeable): an area that allows the filtration of liquids.
Protection Area (Área de Protección): That in which urban works are subject to restrictions.
Public Areas (Áreas públicas): Those allocated for roads and public community facilities.
Reforestation Area (Área de Reforestación): An area for artificial cultivation of new tree growth.
Urban Area (Área urbana): The territorial scope of development of a population center.
Green Area (Área verde): Free municipal areas, grassed or wooded, for public, community use, intended for recreation and beautification of the community.
Avenue (Avenida): A public road with an orientation predominantly from east to west.
Roadway (Calzada): The strip between curbs, ditches, or drainage trenches, intended for vehicle traffic.
Street (Calle): A public road with an orientation predominantly from north to south.
Local Roads (Caminos vecinales): Public roads not classified by the MOPT or CONAVI as highways, nor by the Municipality as urban streets.
Shopping Center (Centro Comercial): A zone housing commercial premises and offices, which in addition to having a commercial or economic entity, also has sociological or anthropological connotations, as a space for social and human exchange.
Land-Use Certificate (Certificado de Uso del Suelo): A document that certifies the conformity or not of the requested use to the requirements of the zone.
Bicycle Path (Ciclo vía): a path for the exclusive traffic of bicycles.
Canton (Cantón): A territorial division smaller than the province.
Clinics (Clínicas): Centers for medical care, specialties, and hospitalization.
Coverage (Cobertura): the horizontal projection of a structure or the area of land covered by such a structure. Projection of the spaces under roof or cover.
Adjacency (Colindancia): properties that are located contiguous to one another or more.
Condominium (Condominio): a property built in a horizontal, vertical, or mixed form, susceptible to independent use by different owners, with indivisible common elements.
Construction (Construcción): is any structure that is fixed or incorporated into land; it includes any work of building, reconstruction, alteration, or expansion that implies permanence.
Biological Corridor (Corredor biológico): a territorial extension whose main function is to interconnect protected wild areas to enable both migration and the dispersal of wild flora and fauna species, and in this way ensure their conservation.
Urban Quadrant (Cuadrante Urbano): a system of cities in a grid form where the majority of goods and services, the road structure, and areas of immediate influence are found.
Right-of-Way (Derecho de vía): the measurement of the public use zone, taken between the boundary lines of the properties, a demarcation established by the MOPT, the Municipality, or a Regulatory Plan.
Stormwater Discharge (Descarga de aguas pluviales): the drainage of stormwater from any building, development, or condominium, towards a river, stream, irrigation ditch, or existing urban system.
District (Distrito): an administrative unit that follows the neighborhood (vecindad). It may contain more than five neighborhood units, with the population varying between twenty-five thousand and seventy-five thousand inhabitants.
Urban District (Distrito urbano): an administrative territorial district whose delimitation corresponds to the radius of application of the respective Regulatory Plan.
Ecotourism (Ecoturismo): any form of nature-based tourism, in which the main motivation of the tourists is the observation and appreciation of that nature or of the traditional cultures dominant in the natural zones.
Health Facility (Establecimiento de salud): health care centers for persons.
Parking (Estacionamiento): that place, whether in buildings or in public or private lots, intended to store all types of vehicles.
Environmental Impact Assessment (Estudio de impacto ambiental): a technically written and graphic document, prepared by responsible and competent professionals, containing the diagnosis, prognosis, and proposal for the causes and effects that any building, development, or construction project generates or would generate on its natural environment: hydrography, topography, relief, geology, geomorphology, aquifers (acuíferos), environmental pollution.
Temporary Event (Evento temporal): An important and scheduled event, of a social, academic, artistic, or sporting nature, that does not have a permanent character.
giving them compensation in exchange. It is carried out for reasons of public utility or social interest provided for in the laws.
Property (Finca): a portion of land registered as a legal unit in the Public Registry or susceptible to being registered, by means of a number that individualizes it.
Consolidated Properties (Fincas Consolidados): properties that are duly registered in the public property registry.
Subdivision (Fraccionamiento): is the division of any land for the purpose of selling, transferring, negotiating, distributing, exploiting, or using separately the resulting parcels; it includes both partitions of judicial or extrajudicial adjudication, locations of undivided rights, and mere segregations in the name of the same owner.
Green Strip (Franja verde): a space provided between the sidewalk and the roadway, for the placement of grass or shrubs, whose dimension shall be in accordance with the right-of-way, but which in no case shall be less than fifty centimeters.
Lot Frontage (Frente lote): the length that the front of a lot must have.
Performance Guarantee (Garantía de Cumplimiento): a sum credited in cash, a bank instrument previously credited in favor of the Municipality of Desamparados, to cover works of an urban development project in case of non-compliance by the developer.
Wetlands (Humedales): ecosystems with dependence on aquatic, natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, lentic or lotic, fresh, brackish, or saline regimes, including marine extensions up to the posterior limit of marine phanerogams or coral reefs or, in their absence, up to 6 meters in depth at low tide.
Industry (Industria): An uncovered or covered establishment, intended for the elaboration, handling, repair, transformation, or utilization of natural or artificial products, by physical, chemical, biological treatment, manually or by means of machines or instruments. Included in this category are sites intended to receive or store artifacts and instruments or tools, materials, and raw materials used in the tasks or labors, and all the annexes and dependencies of a factory.
Artisanal or Home Industry (Industria artesanal o casera): that with fewer than five employees of the family and artisanal type, which generally have a neighborhood clientele.
High-Risk Industry (Industria de alto riesgo): Those activities or establishments that, due to their characteristics, represent or may represent a permanent potential risk to the health of persons or the environment; whether due to their nature, raw materials, intermediate or final products, storage, machinery, equipment, and systems used in their operations, as well as due to their processes, waste, or number of workers, animals, or due to areas of extension or coverage.
Low-Risk Industry (Industria de bajo riesgo): Establishments that, due to their characteristics, raw material, processes, products, and services, do not present a significant threat to the health of persons and have a low impact on the environment.
Moderate-Risk Industry (Industria de riesgo moderado): Activities or establishments that, due to their characteristics, represent a moderate potential danger to the health of persons or the environment; whether due to their nature, raw materials, intermediate or final products, storage, machinery, equipment, and systems used in their operations, as well as due to their processes, waste, or number of workers, animals, or due to areas of extension or coverage.
Botanical Garden (Jardín Botánico): a plant conservation center of a scientific, educational, and recreational nature.
Construction License (Licencia de Construcción): that which the municipality grants for the execution of works related to construction anywhere in the canton, whether of a permanent or provisional nature.
Municipal License (Licencia Municipal): An administrative act by which the development of an activity is authorized.
Urban Boundary (Límite Urbano): the line that marks the edge or end of an urban area, or that has been legally established as the limit of urban expansion of a specific city.
Street Centerline (Línea de centro de calle): the axis of the street, being able to distinguish between an existing axis and a projected axis. The existing axis is the line that runs to the average center of a street in a block (maximum of two hundred meters). The projected axis is a line fixed by the MOPT, or failing that, the P.O.T.
Building Line (Línea de Construcción): a line parallel to the front property line.
Property Line (Línea de Propiedad): that which demarcates the limits of the particular property.
Front Property Line (Línea frontal de propiedad): the line that demarcates the limit or limits of the private property, with respect to the public road, over which the property is accessed, and by which it is supplied with the respective urban services.
Zone Boundary (Límite de zona): the line that frames and defines a zone and that shall be demarcated on the Zoning map, and may vary one hundred meters in one direction or another until its adjustment, in accordance with the provisions established in the P.O.T.
Earthworks (Movimiento de tierra): any activity or labor that modifies the existing conditions of the terrain or its original topography, carried out by manual or mechanical techniques.
Municipality (Municipalidad): a state legal entity with territorial jurisdiction over a canton. The head town of the canton is the seat of the municipal government. It is responsible for the administration of local services and interests.
Wall (Muro): a load-bearing structure arranged to support or resist horizontal efforts, from the ground or floor level. It is used to confine slopes or cuts.
Bare Titleholder (Nudatario): The right or power of someone to possess something and to dispose of it within legal limits.
Infrastructure Works (Obras de infraestructura): a set of installations that allow the operation of public services such as: water supply, sewerage (alcantarillado), drainage, and electricity, in addition to public roads.
Provisional work: construction of a temporary service and utility, prior to the construction of a definitive work.
Territorial Planning: practice that allows for orderly arrangement through space and territory, with a prospective vision, towards the inhabitants and their activities, as well as the equipment and means of communication they use, taking into account natural, human, economic, and even strategic difficulties.
Parcel: It is the cadastral unit represented by a portion of land that constitutes a complete physical unit and is bounded by a line that returns without interruption to a point of origin.
Park: area for public use for recreation, rest, support of wildlife, and ornamentation for the community.
Linear Park: area intended for reforestation, gardens, and trails along the edge of River or Stream Protection Zones (Zonas de Protección de ríos o quebradas).
Recreational Park: area intended for playgrounds, sports infrastructure, gardens, and small picnic shelters (ranchitos).
Theme Park: area intended for classrooms, gardens, educational infrastructure, and auditoriums.
Urban Park: area intended for gardens, urban furniture, plazas, urban equipment, boulevards, and permanent-stay areas.
Cultural Heritage (Patrimonio Cultural): the following are considered:
Monument (Monumento): comprises the isolated architectural creation, as well as the urban or rural site that offers testimony of a representative phase of evolution or progress or of a historical event.
Site (Sitio): Place in which works of man and nature exist, as well as the archaeological area of significant historical, aesthetic, ethnological, anthropological, or environmental value.
Ensemble (Conjunto): Group of isolated or grouped buildings whose architecture, unity, and integration into the landscape are of exceptional historical, artistic, or scientific value.
Historic Center (Centro Histórico): Settlements of an irreplaceable character.
Pedestrian (Peatón): any person who walks on public roads.
Construction Permit (Permiso de Construcción): that which is granted by the Municipality of Desamparados (Municipalidad de Desamparados) for the execution of works related to construction anywhere in the canton, whether of a permanent or provisional nature.
Floor (Piso): Level platform within a construction that serves as a ground surface to support furniture. The floor at ground level is called the first floor (primer piso); a single-story building is one with only one floor. A floor is also known as the set of rooms bounded by horizontal planes within a multi-story building.
Master Plan (Plan Maestro): It is an urban planning instrument that seeks to interrelate all intervention actions on the territory to create ideal conditions for urban development or for acting upon an existing urban ensemble of any magnitude, considering its buildings, the land they occupy, the land surrounding them, and the land they enclose.
Regulatory Plan (Plan Regulador): local planning instrument that defines, in a set of plans, maps, regulations, and any other graphic or supplement, the development policy and plans for population distribution, land uses, circulation routes, public services, community facilities, and construction, conservation, and rehabilitation of urban areas.
Urban Planning (Planificación urbana): urban planning (ordenamiento urbano) is a methodology of foresight and organization that allows public authorities to guide urban development through the elaboration and execution of urban planning documents. Urban planning is expressed, essentially, through two documents: master plans (esquemas directores) and land-use plans (planos de ocupación del suelo). The latter fix the fundamental orientations for the organization of territories, taking into account the needs for urban extension, the exercise of agricultural activities, and the preservation of sites and landscapes.
Cadastral Plan (Plano catastrado): It is the survey plan (plano de agrimensura) that has been registered in the national cadastre.
Survey Plan (Plano de agrimensura): It is the document by which a single property, parcel, or lot is represented graphically, mathematically, literally, and legally.
Possessor (Poseedor): It is the natural or legal person who will promote possessory information to register their title in the Public Registry of Property (Registro público de la propiedad).
Property (Predio): It is the portion formed by one or several contiguous parcels interdependent among themselves and belonging to one or several owners or possessors.
Preservation (Preservación): consists of conserving cultural properties in the same conditions in which they were found, protecting them from humidity, chemical agents, all types of pests, and microorganisms.
Responsible Professional (Profesional responsable): Person duly accredited to ensure the supervision and compliance with the technical specifications of any application, study, or activity.
Owner (Propietario): natural or legal person who exercises dominion over a real estate property.
Project (Proyecto): definitive design, corrected and adjusted, of the construction plans corresponding to the urban development works to be carried out on a property.
Urban Renewal (Renovación urbana): improvement process aimed at eradicating slum zones and rehabilitating urban areas in decay or in a defective state, and the conservation of urban areas and the prevention of their deterioration.
Setbacks (Retiros): open, unbuilt spaces between a structure and the boundaries of the respective land.
Sign (Rótulo): any signboard, writing, print, painting, emblem, drawing, or other means whose purpose is to make commercial propaganda, draw attention to a product, article, or trademark, or to a commercial activity or business, service, recreation, profession, or home-based occupation that is offered, sold, or carried out at a site other than where the advertisement appears.
Routes (Rutas): national highways named as such by the General Road Law (Ley General de Caminos) (No. 5060-1972).
Basic Services (Servicios básicos): potable water, electricity, telephone, storm drainage, and sanitary sewer networks that make up the necessary basic infrastructure and allow for determining land suitable for urban purposes.
Easement (Servidumbre): Restriction on the dominion of a property, established for public benefit or for the benefit of another property.
Lot Surface Area (Superficie de lote): area or extent of a lot or property.
Fence/Wall (Tapia): structure arranged at ground or floor level, to close or delimit a boundary or property.
Urbanization (Urbanización): subdivision (fraccionamiento) or habilitation of land for urban purposes, through the construction of streets and provision of services.
Land Use (Uso de la tierra): utilization of a land, the physical structure settled on or incorporated into it, or both, regarding class, form, or intensity of use.
Conforming Use (Uso conforme): use permitted by zoning and by the requirements established in this Regulation or in current regulations.
Non-Conforming Use (Uso no conforme): use not permitted by zoning and by the requirements established in this Regulation or in current regulations.
Conditional Use (Uso condicional): new and existing use that may occur in a zone as long as it meets the requirements established by the Municipality. These conditions (regarding pollution, nuisances, parking, and others) will be indicated in the land-use certificate (certificado de uso del suelo).
Usufruct (Usufructo): Right to enjoy another's property with the obligation to preserve it, unless the law authorizes otherwise.
Pedestrian Path (Vía peatonal): those designed exclusively for pedestrian use.
Public Road (Vía pública): land of public domain and common use, which by provision of the administrative authority is designated for free transit in accordance with planning laws and regulations; Road Network (Vialidad): set of roads or geographic spaces intended for the circulation or movement of vehicles and pedestrians.
Municipal Approval (Visado municipal): process by which the Municipality gives approval to the plan of a specific property, certifying compliance with urbanistic requirements in order to acquire the legal status of an urban lot (lote urbano), which grants the right to build, sell the land, subdivide, urbanize, or execute a property deed.
Dwelling (Vivienda): context in which the broadest range of human needs are satisfied, and where most of human life is lived. It is also considered as that physical structure that satisfactorily responds to the desires and needs of its inhabitants.
Single-Family Dwelling (Vivienda unifamiliar): building provided with habitable areas intended to shelter a single family.
Multi-Family Dwelling (Vivienda multifamiliar): building conceived as an architectural unit with independent habitable areas, suitable for sheltering three or more families.
Protection Zone (Zona de protección): delimited, non-buildable area established for the protection of rivers, streams, irrigation ditches (acequias), forest, flora, or fauna.
Zoning (Zonificación): territorial circumscription defined in the P.O.T. which is subject to specific regulation regarding the use that may be given within it, prior to the establishment of urbanistic and construction requirements imposed on the buildings to be constructed.
Construction Regulation
Municipal Permits and Approvals