Our Senior Real Estate & amp; Urban, María Camila Parra , expert in Urban Planning Law , explains the importance of the Organic Law of Territorial Organization -LOOT-.
In Colombia, the basic legislation of land use planning is framed in Law 9 of 1989, the Political Constitution of Colombia of 1991, Law 388 of 1997 and Law 1454 of 2011.
The 1991 Political Constitution in its article 288, established that the organic law of territorial ordering would determine the distribution of competences between the Nation and the territorial entities for purposes of regulating the planning of their own territory.
Based on the above, the legislator issued Ordinary Law No. 388 of 1997 (by which Law 9 of 1989 is modified), through which the technical, political, administrative and legal guidelines related to the Ordinance process were defined. Territorial of the municipalities, regulating as a planning instrument, the Territorial Ordering Plan at the local scale, that is, in the municipalities and / or districts.
However, only until the issuance of the Organic Law on Territorial Organization – Law 1454 of 2011, was the regulatory framework established in this matter, reiterating many of the aspects initially established by Law 388 of 1997.
According to the Organic Law of Territorial Organization- (1454 of 2011), the Colombian territorial organization is structured in a cascade according to the political-administrative organization of the country, in: (i) the Nation; (ii) the departments; (iii) metropolitan areas; (iv) the special districts, and (v) the municipalities.
In accordance with the foregoing, the LOOT established the planning instruments, by virtue of the scales of land use planning, as follows:
Of the Nation
a) Establish the general policy of land use planning in matters of national interest: national park areas and protected areas.
b) Location of large infrastructure projects.
c) Determination of limited areas in use for security and defense.
d) The guidelines of the urbanization process and the city system.
e) The guidelines and criteria to guarantee the equitable distribution of public services and social infrastructure in a balanced way in the regions.
f) The conservation and protection of areas of historical and cultural importance.
g) Define the minimum principles of economy and good governance that the departments, districts, municipalities, metropolitan areas, and any of the different alternatives of association, contracts or plan agreements or delegations must comply with.
From the Department
a) Establish guidelines and orientations for the organization of the totality or specific portions of its territory, especially in conurbation areas in order to determine the scenarios of use and occupation of the space, according to the optimal potential of the environment and depending on development objectives, potentialities and biophysical, economic and cultural limitations.
b) Define the policies of population settlements and urban centers, in such a way as to facilitate the development of their territory.
c) Guide the location of the physical-social infrastructure in such a way that regional competitive advantages are taken advantage of and equity is promoted in municipal development.
d) Integrate and guide the spatial projection of the departmental sector plans, those of their municipalities and indigenous territorial entities.
e) In developing their powers, the departments may articulate their policies, guidelines and strategies of physical-territorial ordering with the plans, programs, projects and actions on the territory, through the adoption of management plans for all or specific portions of his territory.
f) The competence to establish specific guidelines and orientations for the planning of the territory in the municipalities that are part of a Metropolitan Area corresponding to these.
g) The departments and associations that they make up may implement special protection programs for the conservation and recovery of the environment.
Of the Metropolitan Areas: It is responsible for the elaboration of comprehensive metropolitan development plans with a long-term perspective, including the component of physical territorial ordering and the establishment of the mandatory general rules that define the objectives and criteria to those that the municipalities must accept when adopting land use planning plans in relation to matters related to metropolitan events, in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Metropolitan Areas.
Of the Special Districts
a) DiviSet the district territory in localities, according to the social characteristics of its inhabitants and assign administrative functions and powers.
b) Organize as metropolitan areas, provided that there are physical, social and economic relationships that give rise to the set of said characteristic and coordinate the development of the integrated territorial space by means of the rationalization of the provision of its services and the execution of works of metropolitan interest.
c) Direct the activities that correspond to them due to their name and character.
Of the Municipality
a) Formulate and adopt land use planning plans.
b) To specifically regulate land use in urban, expansion and rural areas, in accordance with the laws.
c) Optimize the uses of available land and coordinate sector plans, in harmony with national policies and departmental and metropolitan plans.
However, it is important to note that prior to the issuance of the LOOT, there was only Law 388 of 1997, through which the legislator sought to accept the power conferred by the 1991 Political Constitution of Colombia, to the municipalities or districts, with respect to promoting the organization of its territory through the adoption of its land use plans.
In this sense, the predominant scale and administrative level that has had the greatest authority to implement Land Use Planning in Colombia is the municipal and / or district, without prejudice to the power granted to the other administrative levels.
In any case, one cannot lose sight of the fact that, in accordance with the provisions of the basic legislation of Territorial Planning in Colombia, the administrative scale or level that represents the most important role in this process is the departmental one, since it is through From departmental plans, it is possible to articulate municipal and / or district plans, strategic metropolitan land-use planning plans, and land-use planning policies and issues of national interest.
Until the departments adopt their planning plans, it will be viable to have an interdependent multiscale territorial system of land use planning in our country.