Sidewalk (Acera): Thoroughfare for exclusively pedestrian transit, laid out from the property line towards the public road.
Storm sewer (Alcantarillado pluvial): set of installations arranged for the capture, conveyance, and evacuation of rainwater.
Sanitary sewer (Alcantarillado sanitario): set of installations arranged for the capture, conveyance, and evacuation of wastewater.
Alignment (Alineamiento): Line fixed by cadastral design, by the Municipality of Esparza or by the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes. It indicates the limit or maximum proximity of the placement of the construction with respect to the public road.
Building height (Altura de edificación): Vertical distance above the building line (línea de construcción), between the finished floor level and the average level of the roof covering the last floor.
Front setback (Antejardín): Space between the property line and the building line (línea de construcción) fixed by the Municipality or the MOPT, implies a restriction for building, without the portion of land losing its character of private property.
Preliminary project (Anteproyecto): Preliminary consultation procedure in which the design proposal plan is evaluated, and which precedes the submission of the project's construction plans. The proposal plan is subject to modifications or adjustments; it describes the general characteristics of the work to be carried out and its feasibility, and therefore does not authorize the developer to execute works or proceed with the sale of lots.
Approval (Aprobación): Any written and conforming resolution issued by the Municipality of Esparza to authorize the requests made by the owner of a property.
Communal Areas (Áreas Comunales): Those destined for public use, apart from streets and roads, for educational, health, religious, recreational, charitable, and similar purposes.
Area without restrictions (Área sin restricciones): That over which there are no subdivision (fraccionamiento) restrictions, such as: established reserves, flood-prone zones, landslide-prone zones or similar, reserve for national or regional roads, river canyons, slopes greater than 20%, easements (servidumbres), etc.
Urban area (Área urbana): That which is developable. Territorial scope of development of a population center.
Roadway (Calzada): is the space provided for the transit of vehicles, limited between curbs, ditches, or drainage channels.
Public street (Calle pública): a road of public domain and common use, which by administrative provision shall be destined for free transit in accordance with the respective laws and regulations in force.
CFIA: Colegio Federado de Ingenieros y de Arquitectos de Costa Rica.
Coverage (Cobertura): Is the horizontal projection of a structure or the ground area covered by such structure.
CONAVI: Concejo Nacional de Vialidad.
Condominium (Condominio): Property built in a horizontal, vertical, or mixed form, susceptible to independent use by different owners, with common elements of an indivisible nature.
Construction (Construcción): is any structure that is fixed or incorporated into a land; includes any work of building, reconstruction, alteration, or Co-ownership (Copropiedad): Regime existing in those cases where two or more persons acquire ownership over the same thing, or a right over the totality of a good and not over a part thereof.
Curb and gutter (Cordón y caño): Stormwater drain that forms the boundary between the roadway of a street and the sidewalk.
Guarantee deposit (Depósito de garantía): Sum in cash or a previously accredited asset in favor of the Municipality of Esparza to cover works of an urban development project.
Right-of-way (Derecho de vía): is the total width of the road, street, path, easement (servidumbre), its distance being measured between property lines, and including, where applicable, roadway, green strips, and sidewalks.
Stormwater discharge (Descarga de aguas pluviales): Request for endorsement (visado) for the drainage of rainwater from any building, urbanization (urbanización), or condominium towards a river, stream, irrigation ditch, or existing urban system.
DOO: Dirección Operativa y Obras of the Municipality of Esparza.
Building (Edificación): Construction destined for any activity, whether it be dwelling, work, storage, or protection of goods, etc.
Public-use buildings (Edificaciones de uso público): Those buildings of the State or private parties that permanently house, or serve as a regular meeting place for, a considerable number of people.
Executor (Ejecutor): For the purposes of this Regulation, the engineer, architect, technician, or master builder authorized by the Municipality, who is in charge of the execution—not the planning—of a work.
Latticework (Enrejado): Synonym for reticulated in reference to open-web structures.
Storm drainpipe (Entubado pluvial): Underground stormwater drain generally formed by concrete pipe.
Parking (Estacionamientos): Those places (whether in buildings or lots) public or private, destined to store vehicles, including bus terminals and taxi garages.
Environmental impact study (Estudio de impacto ambiental): Graphic and written document technically prepared by responsible and competent professionals in which the diagnosis, prognosis, and proposal are recorded for the causes and effects that any urban development project, condominium, or building generates or would generate in its natural environment: hydrography, topography, relief, geology, geomorphology, aquifers, environmental contamination, etc.
Structure (Estructura): System of elements resistant to the effects of external forces of all types, which forms the skeleton of a building or civil work. It receives and transmits loads and stresses to the firm ground.
Facade (Fachada): It is the elevation or orthographic projection of a building. It can be front (exterior), side, or back; or interior, when it corresponds to internal courtyards.
Subdivision (Fraccionamiento): Refers to all those resulting areas or properties obtained from the division of any plot for purposes of sale, transfer, negotiation, distribution, exploitation, or segregated use, being complementary to the urbanization (urbanización) in its enabling for the purpose of selling. It is the division of any plot carried out for purposes of sale, transfer, business, distribution, adjudication partitions, locations of undivided rights, and mere segregations under the same owner, such as those situated in urbanizations (urbanizaciones) or new constructions that are of interest for the control of the formation and urban use of real estate.
Green strip (Franja verde): 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 (derecho de vía), but in no case less than 50 centimeters.
Lot frontage (Frente de lote): Is the length along its front demarcation line.
Performance guarantee (Garantía de cumplimiento): Deposit that covers the cost of the outstanding works of an urban development project, when a request is made to authorize the segregation of lots or properties, and which shall be governed by the payment conditions established for such purpose by the Municipal Treasury (la Tesorería Municipal).
ICAA or AyA: Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados.
ICE: Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad.
Industry (Industria): Set of material operations executed by human labor that seeks the transformation of raw materials until making them useful for the satisfaction of needs, including the set of facilities for these activities.
Installation (Instalación): In a building, any system destined to services such as drinking water, drains, electrical power, vertical transport, air conditioning, etc.
Interested party (Interesado): Natural or legal person responsible for the application or process before the administration.
INVU: Instituto Nacional de Vivienda y Urbanismo.
Building line (Línea de construcción): is the line that marks the permissible building limit within the property.
Property line (Línea de propiedad): that which demarcates the permitted building limit within the property.
Lot (Lote): Is the land demarcated from neighboring properties with access to one or more paths or roads. It can be for private, public, or communal use.
Official Map (Mapa Oficial): The plan or set of plans accurately indicating the position of the layouts of public roads and areas to be reserved for communal uses and services.
MINAE: Ministerio del Ambiente y Energía.
MOPT: Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes.
Earthworks (Movimiento de tierra): All activity or work that modifies the existing conditions of the terrain or its original topography, and that is carried out using manual or mechanical techniques.
Municipality (Municipalidad): 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, for the purpose of promoting the integral development of the cantons in harmony with national development.
Municipality of Esparza (Municipalidad de Esparza): Legal entity that administers the services and interests in the jurisdiction of the Canton of Esparza.
Wall (Muro): load-bearing structure arranged to support or resist horizontal stresses from the ground or floor level. Used to confine slopes or cuts.
Load-bearing wall (Muro de carga): Wall designed and constructed to resist mainly vertical loads.
Structural wall (Muro estructural): Wall designed and constructed to resist mainly horizontal loads, perpendicular to its plane.
Non-structural wall (Muro no estructural): Wall considered as non- load-bearing and destined only to serve as an enclosure or division of enclosures. Synonym for partition wall (pared).
Civil work (Obra civil): Work designed and constructed through the applied sciences and technology belonging to civil engineering.
Infrastructure works (Obras de infraestructura): Set of installations that enable the operation of public services such as: water supply, sewerage, drainage, electricity, in addition to public roads.
Partition wall (Pared): Synonym for non-structural wall (muro no estructural), constructive element to enclose spaces.
Structural profile (Perfil estructural): Metal bar of various cross-sections, used for the construction of metallic structures.
Geometric Profile (Perfil Geométrico): Trace of a terrain, road, dam, etc., on the vertical plane.
Building permit (Permiso de construcción): Written approval granted by the Municipality of Esparza to any property owner to carry out building or urbanization (urbanización) works, provided they have complied with the requirements of the respective application. The one granted by municipalities (and other competent bodies: Ministerio de Salud, INVU) for the execution of works, whether of a permanent or provisional nature. Generally, the permit is recorded on a plan, which is called the "approved plan".
Floor (Piso): Of a building, a level platform that serves as habitable ground and supports furniture. The floor at street level is called ground floor. A one-story building is one with a single floor.
Cadastral plan (Plano catastrado): Official plan of a land, duly registered in the Dirección de Catastro Nacional, which determines the shape, area, boundaries, and orientation.
Construction plan (Plano constructivo): Technical document (graphic and written) prepared for the purpose of describing and detailing a work to be built on a land.
Planner (Planificador): The engineer or architect who is in charge of the planning—not the execution—of a work. Planning is considered to be the design, calculation, and preparation of the respective project plans.
Responsible professional (Profesional responsable): Active member of the Colegio Federado de Ingenieros y de Arquitectos empowered to oversee the supervision and compliance with the technical specifications of any application for urban endorsement (visado urbano) and building permit.
Horizontal property (Propiedad horizontal): That type of building in which the person is the exclusive owner of a floor, apartment, dwelling, or premises (private area) and co-owner of the assets assigned for common use.
Owner (Propietario): Natural or legal person who exercises dominion over real estate through deed and certification from the property registry.
Project (Proyecto): Final design, corrected and adjusted, of the construction plans for the urban development works to be carried out on a property.
Repair (Reparación): Renewal of any part of a work, to leave it in conditions equal to or better than the original ones.
Resolution (Resolución): Administrative act characterized by producing subjective, concrete legal effects of individual scope.
Front setback (Retiro frontal): Term equivalent to front setback (antejardín).
Setbacks (Retiros): are the open, non-built spaces between a structure and the boundaries of the respective plot or area.
SENARA: Secretaría Nacional de Aguas Subterráneas, Riego y Avenamiento.
Easement (Servidumbre): common passageway that serves no more than 6 (six) properties or lots, but encumbered by a private property right.
SETENA: Secretaria Técnica Nacional del Ambiente.
Application (Solicitud): Written formula from the interested party to carry out an urban development or construction procedure, which records the necessary information of the owner and the property for its resolution, registration, and control.
Partition (Tabique): Resistant vertical element that serves as an interior division or exterior enclosure of the rooms of a building.
Fence wall (Tapia): structure laid out above the ground or floor level, to enclose or delimit a boundary or plot.
Urbanization (Urbanización): Is the subdivision (fraccionamiento) and enabling of any land carried out for urban purposes through the opening of streets and provision of services.
Land use (Uso del suelo): Current or planned activity of a property or lot.
Urban Endorsement (Visado Urbano): Administrative act by which matters regarding Stormwater discharge (Descarga de Aguas Pluviales), availability of Public Services, Alignment (Alineamiento), Land Use (Uso del Suelo), Subdivision (Fraccionamiento) of a property are regulated, prior to processing the building permit.
Protection zone (Zona de protección): Delimited non-buildable area, arranged to protect rivers, streams, irrigation ditches, forest, flora, or fauna.
Green zones (Zonas verdes): Open, grassed or wooded areas, for communal public use, destined for recreation.