Logroño, (EFE).- The plenary session of the Logroño City Council approved this Thursday the specific modification of the General Plan in the Old Town plot where the new headquarters of the Bosonit company will be located, with the votes in favor of PSOE, Unidas Podemos (UP) and the two non-attached councillors.
In this vote, which only affects urban planning, the PP and the Rioja Party (PR+) – which is part of the local government team – have abstained and have voted against Ciudadanos (Cs), because these groups maintain that the modern building projected by this technology company lacks technical support.
The mayor of Logroño, Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza, has assured that “Logroño can be a technopolis” and has supported the building designed by the Japanese architect Kengo Zuma, who proposes a 360-degree viewpoint to the historic center, over a company with 300 young people working in technology.
He has thanked all the municipal units for “the effort, work and dedication” that they have put into the processing of this modification, which has achieved its final approval, after another initial one and its submission to public exhibition, in which no allegations were presented.
To the hundred young Bosonit workers who have attended the plenary session, he has told them that, during the session, they have been able to “see two ways of understanding the city, with the man from the PP who wants to be mayor has said that the Bosonit project laminates 5 centuries of history and prefers a solar “, and that of the Government team.
In eight years of popular government, “they did nothing” on that site, but now, “they don’t let the rest do it either,” lamented Hermoso de Mendoza, who has accused them of using this matter for electoral interest.
«In a while, remember who we put the effort into making this happen: because we believe in economic and wealth creation. I believe in a Logroño of the future and the city can be a technopolis », she underlined.
Guggenheim effect
For his part, the Councilor for Urban Development, Jaime Caballero, specified that this specific modification was already contemplated in the sale of the plot, located on Marqués de San de Nicolás street next to the church of Santa María de Palacio, which has empty for 15 years.
He recalled that the plan is modified so that the site can accommodate offices and also residential use, but “the buildable area does not increase compared to what was previously established.”
Caballero pointed out that, later on, the developer company will have to present the project for the building license to build the building and recalled the opposition that the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao received from some sectors 25 years ago and how “other cities have cloned this case of success in urban regeneration.
The UP spokesperson, Amaia Castro, has insisted that the modification of the planning has all the favorable reports required by law and has criticized the “battle of reports used in a tortious way by some groups in the face of the electoral campaign” .
Rejection of the technicians, according to the opposition
The municipal spokesman for the PP, Conrado Escobar, has supported Bosonit’s expansion project and the promotion of youth employment, but has assured that “two icons of the city, San Bartolomé and Palacio, will be seen differently with this modification ».
He has accused the mayor of “putting stress” on the Corporation with his “cheating” management and the confrontation that he provokes, by authorizing a 26-meter-high building next to a monumental building such as the church of Santa María de Palacio.
In addition, the councilor for Cs, Rocío Fernández, has questioned that the building “threatens” the section of the Camino de Santiago through the city, and has stressed that “to create employment, it is not necessary to change heights in the general plan or break with the heritage of Logroño.
He has ensured that there are unfavorable technical reports, because the heights, alignments and parceling of the plot change, but “the political vote has swept these issues away.”
Finally, the PR+ spokesman, Rubén Antoñanzas, has criticized that the PSOE has “mismanaged” this matter, because they have put the company “in focus” and have caused “collateral image damage.” when the only thing that Bosonit has done is defend its legitimate interests in settling in a space in the Old Town. EFE
