The owner of a restaurant, who installed a deck full of tables and chairs on the beach of Tamarells beach in Puerto Pollença, has been sentenced to six months and one day in prison for a serious offence of disobedience. He will avoid prison as long as he does not reoffend for a period of two years. This period will end on 24 October 2026.
The sentence, which cannot be appealed, considers it proven that on an “undetermined date but between September 2021 and May 2022” the convicted person installed the terrace of his business on the public bathing area without having the relevant permits and ignoring the repeated warnings from Pollensa council. Also, once his installations were cordoned off, he broke the police seal and continued to operate the business on the beach until the spring of 2022 when the coucil decided to act ex officio and dismantle the decking.
The order sets an important precedent and will have a deterrent effect. The message is clear, regardless of whether the area of public maritime land domain is the responsibility of Costas or the local councils, trying to take advantage of public space for financial gain by bypassing the legal channels can be very costly.
For years, the condemned man denounced being the victim of an alleged political persecution by the then mayor of Pollença Tomeu Cifre Ochogavía, against whom he even filed a complaint for alleged administrative malfeasance, a complaint that was shelved. “The mayor sent council workers who, together with the local police, lifted all the furniture, including all the decking on the beach with cranes, breaking all the material,” Santiago Camarote said at the time of the incident.
Camarote argued that he was suffering “discriminatory treatment by the mayor who does not act against the rest of the establishments that set up their terraces without authorisation”. The difference between one and the other, the council argued at the time, “this particular business not only lacked the authorisation to occupy the public space, but even the relevant business licence”.
The businessman filed numerous complaints with the Balearic Coastal Authority against other restaurateurs in the area and even against the Pollensa Town Hall itself, which he accused of having installed children’s games on Llenaire beach. Some of their complaints were heard, and Costas ordered the removal of the municipal playground in Llenaire, which provoked a flood of neighbourhood protests that led Costas to rectify “in extremis” and keep the playgrounds in their original location.
“In the section of the beach occupied by the now condemned (between the Gola and the port breakwater) there was no restaurant with a terrace on the beach. He was occupying the public domain area and to go from his restaurant to serve on the terrace he had to cross a road. That’s why we refused authorisation,”said Tomeu Cifre Ochogavía after learning of the latest court ruling.
“He was a delinquent and began to threaten me. He told me everything. He went so far as to denounce the municipal playground to Costas, but we did not succumb to any of this individual’s threats. Over time, the courts have proved us right in all respects, both in the administrative complaints and in the criminal complaints, and they make it clear that the rules are there to be complied with. They create an important precedent so that no one dares to do the same. The public highway belongs to everyone and to install a terrace you have to apply for and obtain permits beforehand”, concluded the former mayor.