Rio Lagartos Biosphere Reserve is one of the most renowned Natural Protected Areas in Central America. The legacy surpasses Mexico's frontiers and was the first wetlands in the country to join the Ramsar Convention ( http://www.ramsar.org ), an intergovernmental treaty with UNESCO as a depository organization.
The Reserve holds the only nesting site of the Pink Flamingo in Mexico and all of its beaches holds the category of Sanctuary for marine turtles nesting. There are over 380 different bird species in the 150,000 acres.
The Mexican Federal Government has designated limited areas within the Reserve for low density development. As a result of this policy, of the 130 Km of privileged coastline, construction is only allowed in a narrow beachfront line of 9 kilometers; 5 Km of those correspond to the current "Playa Kuká" project.
When gauging the scope of a potential development in Rio Lagartos we must observe the Reserve's zoning density. This mandatory decree allows to build one residence per 5 acre lot with at least, but not limited to a minimum of 100 meters beachfront or a Hotel with a minimum of 500 meters beachfront.
All the available land with building rights could at maximum, hold a total of 90 residences, 18 boutique Hotels or a combination of both.
After one year of Playa Kuka's project launching, the developer has already committed to develop a high end eco-resort consisting in 16 cabañas, and build 4 beach front residences.
Residential lot density: The footprint density as expressed by the COS (Coeficiente de Ocupación de Suelo) is 0.5% with a minimum lot size of 100 meters beachfront. The CUS (Coeficiente de Uso de Suelo) establishes that houses are allowed to have 2 usable floors or a maximum of 7 meters height. i.e. if you have a 4 hectare lot you could build a house of 100 Sq meters footprint and 2 levels, for a total of 200 Sq meters or 2,152 sf.
Hotel lot density: The footprint density as expressed by the COS (Coeficiente de Ocupación de Suelo) is 0.5% with a minimum lot size of 500 meters beachfront. The CUS (Coeficiente de Uso de Suelo) establishes that hotels are allowed to have 2 usable floors or a maximum of 7 meters height. i.e. if you have a 10 hectare lot you could build a hotel of 500 Sq meters footprint and 2 heights, for a total of 1,000 usable Sq meters or 10,760 sf.
In the case of Hotels it is possible to get 50% more COS density up to 0.75% if all the constructions are inside a polygon that occupies 10% of less of the total surface. For example... if you have a 10 hectare lot you could occupy a 750 Sq meter footprint and 1,500 Sq meters in total over two levels, provided that all buildings are within a polygon of 1 hectare or less.
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