Isabela questions bill for a 204.5-cuerda reserve in Bajuras
The Municipality of Isabela has asked the Senate to answer four questions before it moves Senate Bill 1217, which would designate 204.5 cuerdas in Barrio Bajuras as the Mabodamaca Natural Reserve, NotiCel reported on October 22, 2026. The town set out its concerns in a written memorial to the Senate Tourism, Natural Resources and Environmental Commission.
The proposed reserve lies north of road PR-466, between Las Golondrinas beach and Shore Island beach, the outlet reported. The mayor said he was not consulted on the bill. The Department of Natural Resources and Environment and the Planning Board rejected it the day before the memorial was reported.
The mayor told the outlet that the idea is not new: the same measure was filed in the previous four-year term and was not approved by the Legislature.
Four questions from the town
One question is which land the reserve would take in. The bill fixes the area with two geographic coordinates and the two beaches, and gives no official map, cadastral plan or list of lots, the memorial says. Owners in the area, some of whom may not know their land could be affected, cannot tell from the bill's text.
The town also asks how the designation fits existing land-use and municipal zoning plans. The bill orders the Planning Board to adopt or amend the land-use plans in force, and a supremacy clause puts its terms above any conflicting law or rule. The town wants to know, before approval, how the reserve changes the zoning of the private lots inside it and next to it.
Another concerns the economic impact. The bill carries no economic impact study, and the memorial says it offers owners no guidance, compensation or incentive for the permanent limits a reserve places on how land is used.
The last concerns property rights and property tax. The town argues that the designation could raise questions under the property protections of the Puerto Rico and federal constitutions. It adds that the Municipal Code of Puerto Rico requires CRIM to assess property at its real value, market value included, so land that loses permitted uses would lose market value and its assessment would have to follow.
The town said it raises these points not to oppose the project but because a fair conservation law must say what happens to the rights of affected private owners. It welcomed the articles that require consulting the municipality on the reserve's management plan and allow co-management with community groups, while arguing that consultation falls short of formal participation.
What the town asks for
- An official map from the natural resources department identifying, lot by lot, the land and marine areas affected, with the list of private lots included.
- An analysis from the Planning Board of how the designation changes zoning in and around the area.
- An economic impact study covering private owners, economic activity in the area and the town's development.
- A formal consultation process with the municipality in the land-use plan review, and a provision to review the tax assessment of the affected land.
- Formal recognition of the municipality as an active participant in the management plan and the co-management agreements.
How Bajuras land is classified today
The mapped lots of Barrio Bajuras add up to about 949.8 cuerdas. Puerto Rico's land-use classification already places 61.2% of the classified land, about 580.6 cuerdas, in specially protected rustic land, with 46.3% in its ecological category.
Another 34.8% is common rustic land, and 3.4% is urban land, as the Bajura, Isabela land market profile shows for the area. Those shares describe the barrio as a whole; because the bill lists no lots, how much of the 204.5 cuerdas is already specially protected cannot be measured.