Building regulations come too late for some shorelines

These guidelines were passed in April of 2008 sparked forward by a national outcry when the Tamarindo beach had its’ “blue flag” status taken away from it.
    Costa Rica’s loose property purchase regulations resulted in a large amount of land being bought up by North American investors who began building at a steady rate in from 2005-2008 at an unregulated rate since the municipal governments neglected their responsibility to develop zoning laws in the beach properties.  Zoning law has never been very stringent in Costa Rica, but when the municipal governments looked the other way in essence, the North American investors took advantage of the situation and start building there structures in any manner they choose appropriate without considering how the properties were going to affect the beach land and each other.  As a result there was nowhere for building wastes, sewage wastes, and other wastes to effectively be diverted into as a containment area.  Had the municipal governments stepped up to their tasks, each building would have been zoned to create a more cohesive waste management result.  As a result, quickly the wastes from all the buildings began to seep into the beaches.
    Tarimundo was the first beach in Costa Rica to publicly be acknowledged as becoming a threat to the ocean in February of 2008 as it lost its “blue flag” statues.  “Blue flag” status is an honorary recognition awarded by the Costa Rican department of Water and Sewage to the beaches that do not leak hazardous wastes into the country.  
    The decree that President Oscar Airias issued created a national building zone guideline system in all areas that currently were not zoned by the municipal governments to prevent more beaches being spoiled.  He also added that from April onwards it was not just the municipal government’s responsibility to protect the natural beauty of the shoreline and ocean, although it should have definitely acted as a wakeup call, but it was every level of government and the people and builder’s in Costa Rica’s responsibility to adhere to the posted building guidelines and prevent future zoning disasters.  
    While the guidelines are a step in the right for direction for Costa Rica, unfortunately these new guidelines did not come into effect until October of 2008, and buildings that were approved or are already in the process of being built will be allowed to be finished regardless of how they fit into the cityscape.    
    In the future hopefully the municipal governments will step up to the tasks set before them to regulate building zoning in the manner the President dictated, but in the meantime, they have a mess of poorly zoned buildings to contend with.  The municipal governments are going to have the tough challenge ahead of them of trying to create zoning laws that will accommodate new buildings that have to fit within the guidelines, with the already started buildings that will tower over the new buildings.  In some areas, the transitions will not be too horrible, but some heavily developed shoreline views are going to be destroyed for as long as the buildings exist.  The zoning regulations are a nice start, but definitively a case of too little too late for Costa Rica.