The reopening of the Aguamarina pedestrian maritime path will take time. A very optimistic period would be rather more than a year, but that is if the Orihuela Council finally manages to overcome the important technical, economic, and legal obstacles that stand in its way.
At the upcoming plenary session for the month of August, which in Orihuela is always held at the beginning of September, a vote will be taken to approve the reopening of the path, and what is more important, to agree the need to claim the land through an expropriation, or a compulsory purchase procedure.
It is understood that the Council had valued the land to be expropriated at 70,000 euros, 227 square metres next to the cliff face, while the owners are asking for 3 million.
Meanwhile the owners of the land not only object to the valuation, but they are going to challenge the main legal argument of the Council as they attempt to validate the forced expropriation.
The walkway was closed in 2013 by the residents of the Bellavista I Community of Owners who own the land, stating that it is part of the community itself. In 2015 the then Councillor for Urbanism, Antonio Zapata, ordered its reopening, stating that the enclosing walls had been built without a license, and represented an urban infringement.
The residents, around 50 owners, went to court, which gave them permission to reinstate the walls again at both ends of the paseo.
The walkway has now been closed to the general public since December 2021, a closure that not only prevents both residents and holidaymakers from enjoying this section, but also forces them to take a long two-kilometre detour to get to the beach.
But the procedure to be approved by the plenary will take time, since it will foreseeably generate new judicial proceedings, both to discuss the just price of the expropriation, it is clear that there is no agreement, and to establish the very justification of the public interest for the reopening.
However, despite the Orihuela council asking the Generalitat to declare the expropriation as urgent, the procedure will take time, with even the most optimistic forecasts saying it will be at least a year before the general public are able to use the walkway once again.
