The Inmobiliaria Las Salinas team is actively working on a new Environmental Impact Study, EIA, through which it seeks to conclude the process of remediation of the land, begun in 2001, and to enable its real estate use. In this context, the company has decided to implement the Early Citizen Participation or PACA, as part of its ongoing commitment to dialogue and collaborative work with the residents of Viña del Mar. This is a voluntary activity whose purpose is to inform the community about an environmental impact study before it enters the evaluation system, in order to gather the main concerns and contributions of the neighbors and thus improve the project. The Inmobiliaria Las Salinas PACAs took place between Monday, August 29 and Wednesday, September 14. The 9 sessions held during this period made it possible to socialize the Environmental Impact Study among 145 people, representatives of the communities surrounding the site and various citizen organizations. Each PACA included an introduction by Ricardo Labarca K., Development Manager of Inmobiliaria Las Salinas, who reiterated the company’s commitment to rigorously complete the remediation of the site in order to make viable the objective of developing the first certified sustainable neighborhood in Chile. This was followed by a technical presentation of the remediation project by the Environmental Manager of Golder Associates, Raúl Victor, and ended with a participatory dialogue. There is consensus that Viña del Mar faces great challenges in the area of roads, which is why Inmobiliaria Las Salinas proposes a phased design for soil removal, which will minimize the impact by being more extensive in time. In addition to the staging, the company plans to control the number of trucks in the periods and lanes authorized by the regulations, as well as reducing truck traffic during rush hour. In addition, it will propose to optimize traffic light programming in the area surrounding the project, where there is room for considerable improvements in the flow of traffic in areas of high traffic. With respect to air quality – where the models used confirm that all standards are met – the company explained the specific measures envisaged, such as humidifying internal roads and controlling vehicle speed, among others. During the early citizen participation, some mitigation proposals were made by the neighbors themselves, which are being studied by Inmobiliaria Las Salinas. These include the creation of an expedited communication system between the neighbors and those responsible for the work during the development of the works and the rigorous coverage of the trucks to reduce dust in suspension.
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