The residents of the ‘Nueva Sierra de Madrid’ or ‘Nueva Sierra de Altomira’ urbanization, as it is also known, will demonstrate again this Saturday, November 30, at the civic center of Albalate de Zorita (Guadalajara), at 9 a.m. tomorrow.
They will do so coinciding with the celebration of the ordinary owners’ meeting called by the urban planning entity that manages this private urbanization. According to the residents themselves, it has about 5,600 plots, of which more than 1,600 are built.
The history of protests stretches back over time and has worsened in the last three years. The development began to be built in the 70s of the 20th century, but many of the lands are still not developed. In addition, there are constant complaints about the lack of infrastructure maintenance.
Now, the latest budget for 2025 that has just been proposed by the urbanization manager, the Urban Conservation Collaborating Entity (EUCC), is the straw that breaks the camel’s back. For next year, an expenditure figure that exceeds 2.9 million euros is presented.
The reason for the high budget is the inclusion of “extraordinary expenses” that are around 800,000 euros. The largest amount will be used to build a clean point for urbanization. It will cost 400,000 euros. Then, to use it, residents will have to pay a quarterly fee of two euros and another 52.57 euros more for garbage collection per quarter in 2025.
“There is no need for a clean spot in the urbanization. There is another one in town. And if it’s like that… It’s a very large piece of land with a mesh where garbage is thrown. If they give us that for 400,000 euros… I don’t understand it. It doesn’t make sense,” says the residents’ spokesperson Diana Da Silva.
To this will be added another 370,150 euros of expenditure to implement the so-called ‘Forest Fire Risk Self-Protection Plan’ in the urbanization. “We have consulted budgets from companies that deal with these issues and are amazed.”
From there, operating expenses, purchases, work carried out by other companies, the repayment of a bank loan and the salaries of the development’s employees raise the budget to almost three million euros. Only the salaries, wages, Social Security and other “social expenses” of the workers of the entity that manages the urbanization add up to 614,000 euros annually.
“We are outraged, they continue to call meetings and we still do not know how many neighbors are going to pay for all this, among how many owners the expense is distributed, we do not understand if the majority owner Mar de Castilla, having many properties, applies discounts of 70%.. We go blind, we pay blind. “Nobody answers us.”
He denounces the “lack of transparency” and appeals to the role that the City Council, which is part of the Governing Council of the managing entity, must play. “This is not a problem of an urbanization,” the neighbors say because “New Sierra has been urban land for many years.”
We are outraged, they continue to call meetings and we still do not know how many neighbors are going to pay for all this, among how many owners the expense is distributed, we do not understand if the majority owner Mar de Castilla, having many properties, applies discounts of 70%… We go blind, we pay blind. Nobody answers us
Diana Silva
— Neighbor of the urbanization
They maintain that “this is a serious social problem, also urban” and that the entire area “had to already be urbanized, with public and private green areas, with municipal services and provisions, something to which every Spaniard and “Spanish”.
They accuse the city council of shaking off responsibility. “Instead of demanding that the urban developer finish it and assume its municipal obligations, it continues its inexplicable conduct, protecting what translates into a multimillion-dollar urban and consumer fraud.”
They believe that the city council “leaves citizens completely defenseless, abandoned to the arbitrariness of private companies, which the administration should control,” they elaborate in their complaint.
The neighbors have tried to cancel the call by appealing to the City Council. “The City Council does not have the power to suspend said assembly,” was the response of the Consistory, which also reported having held a meeting with the Municipal Assistance Service of the Provincial Council of Guadalajara. “Their recommendations have been conveyed to the Entity so that they can make the decision they deem appropriate.”
Since 1992, the Community of Owners of the urbanization has been managed by a Collaborating Urban Conservation Entity (EUCC). The Presidency is held by the company Mar de Castilla SA which, according to the residents, has the majority of votes.
It is the owner of most of the land and that, neighbors say, “allows it to assume control of the entity” and decide on expenses. It also acts as a marketer for the many plots of land that are still for sale through its website.
According to the statutes, the entity was established “for the conservation” of the urbanization in accordance with the PERI (its own Special Interior Reform Plan) to create and maintain common services and distribute expenses. The neighbors argue that “in no case is it mentioned that the entity – and therefore the neighboring owners – must pay for what was missing and remains to be developed.” They feel that their money is helping to pay for what is not theirs.
In May 2023, several residents of the urbanization ran in the municipal elections under the acronym GRIAL, Independent Group of Albalate. The candidacy was led by Diana Da Silva herself and they obtained two councilors.
They thought that this way they could have access to more information and change things. So far, no results. The councilors complain that they are “in the dark”, that there is no information and they are even notified “two or three days before the plenary sessions.” His proposal to open a commission for monitoring and transparency of what happens in the urbanization has been rejected.
In May of this year they demonstrated in front of the town hall denouncing what they described as “urban planning fraud.” They still have no answers. Nor are there any by the department of the Government of Castilla-La Mancha responsible for urban planning in the autonomous community. There have been conversations with the Department of Development, but without progress in practice.
The case is currently in court. The neighbors have presented their case before the courts in Guadalajara. For a year, says Diana Da Silva, they have been waiting for the city council to send the documentation that has been requested to the court.
A city council with acting mayor, without secretary or architect
In parallel, the situation in the city council itself is complex. Mayor Julio Villalba is on sick leave. He is replaced in office by Councilor Maribel Ortiz. Furthermore, for half a year they have been without the Intervention Secretariat and without a municipal architect.
The acting mayor assures, in conversation with elDiarioclm.es, that this “is a private development that the city council has not received because the works are unfinished.” It also ensures that municipal obligations are limited to urban planning: issuing building permits and collecting IBI. “Now since we don’t have an architect, the Guadalajara Provincial Council helps us. “It is the one that is granting the licenses.”
Then, he points out that his role is that of a “control body”, a kind of intermediary between the managing entity and the neighbors. “The works are finishing, but there are 100 kilometers of road,” he says. “It is the second largest urbanization in Europe. It’s not easy. Right now they are with the Self-Protection Plan required by the Junta de Castilla-La Mancha, but every thing that is done the neighbors paralyze it.”
Paradoxically, the acting mayor herself has properties in this urbanization. “Everything they report must be battled with the managing entity,” he assures, to reject that the City Council has ignored it. “I propose that more care be taken of the asphalt and the cleaning of ditches, but it is a private urbanization,” he insists.
The development was done poorly from the beginning and has had problems for more than 50 years. It costs a lot to solve it and small steps are taken. Work is being done to legalize everything, but we cannot solve it in two months. We have addressed the Junta de Castilla-La Mancha
Maribel Ortiz
— acting mayor
“The City Council does not have the means, we are a town of 1,200 inhabitants. We cannot verify the votes in the neighborhood assembly. “That’s what the courts are for.” At this point he recognizes that the City Council has not sent the information to the courts that the neighbors request to initiate a legal case. “We will send it, but we have been without a secretary for five months. They already won a lawsuit against the entity but they did not enforce the sentence,” says Maribel Ortiz.
“The urbanization was done wrong from the beginning and has had problems for more than 50 years. It costs a lot to solve it and small steps are taken,” says the acting mayor. “Work is being done to legalize everything, but we cannot solve it in two months.” He assures that “all this is a mess”, starting with the Special Plan for Internal Reform of the urbanization “which is poorly done” and in this last aspect he points out the Ministry of Development. “We have gone to the Junta de Castilla-La Mancha to solve it.”
It denies the lack of municipal transparency. “This government team provides information, but we have a soulless city council. They don’t let us work to solve it. I hope it can be done soon because this is putting the people and urbanization at odds.”
This medium has contacted the urban planning entity to obtain its version, but it has not been possible to obtain it so far.
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