Condominium in southern Bahia becomes the target of a court battle – 04/17/2023 – Environment

The construction of a condominium in Santo André, a district with about a thousand inhabitants in the municipality of Santa Cruz Cabrália, in the south of Bahia, became the target of a legal battle between businessmen and part of the local community.

The Vila da Vila condominium raises questions from residents of Santo André, who see possible impacts of the development that will be built in the APA (Environmental Protection Area) Santo Antônio.

The land is in front of the sea and close to the mouth of the João de Tiba river, in the same area where 17 beach huts are installed, most of them managed by native residents.

The project foresees a gated community with 56 lots for real estate, each with 800 to 1,500 m^two, in addition to a commercial village with shops, swimming pool and gourmet area. The total area is 74 thousand m^twoequivalent to just over seven official soccer fields.

The development is under the responsibility of the company Castello Cario Brasil Participações and will be built by Katz Construtora.

The Municipality of Santa Cruz Cabrália granted environmental licenses for the construction of the condominium in 2022, but the project became the target of a public civil action filed since January by Associação Bem-Te-Vi Diversidade, based in the village.

The entity says that the licenses were granted in record time, without proper publicity for the processes, and points out possible impacts of the work on the community, which has an irregular water supply and does not have a sewage collection and treatment system.

It also highlights possible impacts on the restinga vegetation of the terrain, considered necessary for the safety of nests in the nesting area of ​​sea turtles, an endangered species.

“We are not against the development itself, but we defend the reduction in the number of lots to reduce the impact on the environment. The village does not have the infrastructure for a condominium of this size”, says Marília Viegas, board member of Amasa (Association of Residents and Friends of Santo André).

In February, the Federal Court accepted the request of Associação Bem-Te-Vi Diversidade and suspended the effects of the environmental license and the authorization for suppression of vegetation in the development area, under penalty of a fine of R$ 10 million.

The injunction, however, was overturned in March at the Federal Regional Court, which considered that the land does not occupy a federal area and that, therefore, the matter would not fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal Court. When consulted, the AGU (Attorney General of the Union) stated that the area is not owned by the Union.

On the same day of the decision, federal judge Pablo Baldivieso contested the argument and cited documents from the SPU (Secretary of Union Heritage) which indicate that the undertaking would have 1,600 m^two —the equivalent of 2% of the total— within the Navy area.

The magistrate summoned Ibama (Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) to prepare an environmental technical report for the area and scheduled a conciliation hearing.

Castello Cario Brasil Participações says that there are no Navy areas on the land. The company claims that it has followed all the legal procedures and that the enterprise is considered small and has a low environmental impact, in accordance with federal legislation.

“We received the public civil action with surprise. The action has a series of technical errors, makes presumptions and starts from wrong premises”, he told the Sheet attorney Daniel Blenner, representative of Castello Cario Brasil Participações.

Environmental studies indicate the existence of 1,144 trees on the land, of which 147 will be cut down for the construction of common areas. The cut within the lots will be up to the owners, who will have to request new authorizations from the city hall. The felled trees will have to be compensated by planting native species in the region.

Castello Cario Brasil Participações rebuts the criticism in relation to basic sanitation and says it will install armored biodigesters in the sewer system, which would be enough to preserve the water table. It also argues that the nearest turtle spawning area is more than a hundred meters away.

When contacted, the mayor of Santa Cruz Cabrália, Agnelo Santos (PSD), did not comment on the matter. In a letter sent to the Municipal Council for the Defense of the Environment, the city government defended the regularity of licenses and environmental compensation.

With the suspension of the injunction that blocked the licensing, the beginning of the condominium works depends on authorization from Iphan (National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute).

Responsible for the work, Katz Construtora is a company from Minas Gerais that has already built two other condominiums in the region — one in Santa Cruz Cabrália, in the region known as Araripe, and another in the neighboring city of Belmonte.

Since it started investing in the region, the construction company has also acquired a restaurant in the village of Santo André and entered into a partnership to maintain a museum in Belmonte. All publicize real estate developments, including models and even advertising on the restaurant menu.

The community of the village of Santo André also has a history of clashes with real estate developments and producers of large parties. In 2014, the district gained notoriety by hosting the German Training Center during the football World Cup.

Judge Pablo Baldivieso, responsible for assessing the public civil action, highlighted in his decision that the disorderly occupation of land owned by the Navy in southern Bahia has generated “disastrous environmental consequences”.

The construction of projects on the coast of Bahia is under the sights of Justice and the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, who warn of the sensitive ecosystem in the region, which includes restingas, mangroves and areas of Atlantic forest, and of the impact on traditional communities.

In early April, the SPU (Secretary of Union Heritage) paralyzed the installation process of a tourist mega-enterprise on the island of Boipeba, in Cairu. The agency states that the region is a federal public area, in the process of being recognized as a reserve for traditional communities.