P.R. Laws tit. 28, § 208
Before issuing a new [permit], the Secretary shall provide notice to the public about the applications through the means he/she may establish by regulations. The Secretary shall hold public hearings if commentaries, controversies or objections arise with regard to any application, and he may call them motu proprio or by petition of an interested party. These public hearings will take place in the municipality where the requested activity would take place, after working hours, and shall be presided over by a technical/legal panel. During the first part of the hearing the applicants shall present to the community the activities that they request be authorized and they shall answer the attendees’ questions and clarify their doubts. During the second part, the panel shall receive for the record all the commentaries, preoccupations, doubts and objections by the attendees concerning the requested permit. The interested or affected parties may appear personally or through counsel, examine witnesses and introduce evidence to prove their case. The most liberal and open participation of the public shall be encouraged. After the hearing is held and within thirty (30) days after the case is submitted, the Secretary shall state his decision to deny or issue the permit in writing with the findings of fact and legal issues on which it is based, and shall send a copy thereof by registered mail to each one of the parties in the proceeding. The incidents of the public hearing shall be entered in a record which is admissible in evidence before a court.
The Secretary shall allow the participation or intervention in these hearings of all persons who so request.
The Secretary may require those persons requesting a hearing to pay for the costs incurred by the Department in the hearings, such as the use of the meeting room, public notices and sound system, among others. The Secretary shall determine by regulation the standards concerning this provision. The payments shall be covered into a special fund to defray the cost of the hearings. The applicants shall have the option of contracting directly for the services required for the hearings.
History —June 25, 1968, No. 132, p. 314, § 3; June 3, 1976, No. 144, p. 423, § 3; June 27, 1987, No. 54, p. 180, § 2; Dec. 26, 1997, No. 195, § 2; Sept. 2, 2000, No. 370, § 1.