Antonio reforms his PUGS to comply with the SOT sanction

The Municipal Council of the Autonomous Decentralized Government of Antonio Ante issued Ordinance No. 01-020-GADM-AA-2024, reforming the Development and Territorial Planning Plan (PDOT) and the Land Use and Management Plan (PUGS) of the canton, to comply with the reparatory measure imposed by the Superintendency of Territorial Planning, Land Use and Management (SOT). The regulation was published in the Official Registry, Special Edition No. 1729, on Monday, November 9, 2026, on page 2, and is effective from its approval.

Origin of the sanction

Through Resolution No. SOT-INAR-DIS-2026-017, dated March 19, 2026, issued within Administrative Sanctioning Procedure No. SOT-IZ1-PAS-2025-010, the SOT declared the municipality responsible for the very serious infringement typified in Article 108, number 2, of the Organic Law of Territorial Planning, Land Use and Management (LOOTUGS): transforming rural land into urban land or rural land for urban expansion without observing Article 10, numeral 3, of the same legal body.

The economic sanction imposed was USD 35,525.88, pursuant to Article 109, numeral 3, of the LOOTUGS. Additionally, in the FOURTH numeral of the resolution section, the SOT ordered the adjustment of the canton’s land use and management instrument, primarily regarding the subclassification of urban and rural land.

The technical basis of the resolution indicated that the subclassification of rural land for urban expansion and the delimitation of urban land in the PUGS did not correspond in form, location, or surface area with the categories of the PDOT 2015-2030, and that these land incorporations were made without prior authorization or a favorable pronouncement from the National Agrarian Authority.

What changes in the zoning

The ordinance does not entirely replace Ordinance No. 020-GADM-AA-2024: it only adjusts the structuring component of the PUGS. Its changes include:

• The subclassification of rural land for urban expansion is removed from the cantonal planning, and Article 36, which defined it, is repealed.
• Rural land is subclassified into production, extractive use, and protection; areas previously considered for urban expansion now become rural production land.
• The canton is composed of 34 urban polygons and 44 rural polygons, delimited in a Single Cartographic Annex integrated into the ordinance.
• The urban delimitation will use the categories of the PDOT 2015-2030 as a reference.

The reform is supported by the Organic Reform Law to the LOOTUGS, in effect since July 7, 2026, and by Executive Decree No. 445, which allows the modification of the structuring component when an administrative sanctioning procedure by the control entity exists.

Deadlines and effects for owners and developers

The transitional provisions establish a schedule that directly affects ongoing procedures and activities:

• 30 days for the Territorial Planning Directorate to refine and adjust the 2015 urban boundary cartography, without this implying an expansion of urban land.
• 60 days to define the observed areas, structure the individual technical files, and process the corresponding authorization before the National Agrarian Authority.
• 30 days to issue the procedure that will provide continuity to preliminary projects, subdivisions, and urbanizations approved without consolidated rights, as well as to works and investments already executed on properties affected by the retroactive effect.
• 30 days to regulate the technical correspondence of the Residential R1, R2, R3 and Multiple Residential (UM) categories.
• 1 year, from publication, for pre-existing activities incompatible with the zoning to process the update of permits; industries, greenhouse crops, and poultry and swine farms must present a closure and relocation plan.
• Permits for the collection or management of hazardous or special waste, or for activities of evident risk in residential or mixed zones, will not be renewed.

Final administrative acts that have conferred urban rights previously remain protected, according to articles 26.1, 26.2, and 39.1 of the reformed LOOTUGS. Likewise, it was ordered that the Appraisals and Cadastre Office update the cadastre according to the new delimitation, while procedures in observed zones remain subject to internal controls of the Territorial Planning Directorate.

Institutional Closure

The ordinance was approved in the ordinary sessions of October 15 and 22, 2026, in the first and second debates, and sanctioned on October 26, 2026 by Mayor Ab. César Escobar Vallejos, with certification from the Council Secretary, Ab. Mireya Méndez Ramírez, in Atuntaqui. The Territorial Planning Directorate must submit the compliance report of the reparatory measure to the SOT through the Mayor’s Office.

Source: Official Registry, Special Edition No. 1729, Monday, November 9, 2026, Decentralized Autonomous Governments, pág. 2 (official reference: 01-020-GADM-AA-2024).