Coyoacán Residents Plan Legal Fight and Protest Against Skyline Towers

Residents of several Coyoacán neighborhoods are preparing legal action to stop Skyline, a housing project planned at Calzada de Tlalpan 2169 in colonia Atlántida, El Universal reported. They also plan a protest outside the site on the morning of Wednesday, Nov. 11.

According to the neighbors, the project would put up 4 towers of 15 floors each, with 430 apartments and 588 parking spaces. They say the area’s water supply, drainage, soil and traffic cannot absorb a development of that size.

Which neighborhoods oppose Skyline

The opposition comes from Multifamiliar Tlalpan and the colonias Ciudad Jardín, Atlántida, Educación, El Centinela, Campestre Churubusco, Espartaco and Xotepingo. Residents laid out their objections at a meeting at the Foro Cultural el Caracol. Several speakers sit on their area’s Comisión de Participación Comunitaria (Copaco), the elected neighborhood councils that represent each colonia before the city.

El Universal did not report the developer’s response, and the neighbors’ figures for the project have not been confirmed by the builder or by Coyoacán authorities.

Water, sandy soil and earthquake fears

Water is the main complaint. Neighbors say the complex would demand more water than the area can spare and would overload public drains, causing flooding and wastewater discharges that could spread infection.

Edith Ferreira, a Copaco member in Ciudad Jardín who lives on a property next to the lot, said the ground is sandy and unfit for a complex of that scale. She told the meeting she fears neighboring homes could be damaged in an earthquake, and that a well on the site would not be enough for the people expected to live there. “Our houses are going to come down if there is a quake,” she said, by El Universal’s account.

Ferreira said residents do not oppose all construction on the site. She suggested a smaller housing complex or shops, such as a supermarket or a shopping center, would suit the area better.

Alejandro Peláez of the El Centinela Copaco warned that pumping water for the towers could cut supply to surrounding colonias. He asked authorities to weigh the short and medium term effects of new residents on public transport and drinking water, and argued that impact studies should start from the conditions people in the area already live with.

Traffic on Calzada de Tlalpan

Claudia Corona, a Copaco member in Espartaco, said the avenue is the neighborhood’s main way out and is already badly congested. She expects the project to add traffic, pollution and water problems, and said other Coyoacán communities beyond the immediate area would feel the effects.

Corona also worries about precedent. If Skyline is approved in Ciudad Jardín, she said, other projects of the same size will follow.

What it means for Coyoacán residents

The dispute touches some of the problems that matter most in this part of southern Mexico City: water supply, flooding, congestion on Calzada de Tlalpan and building safety in an earthquake zone. Neighbors argue the outcome will also set a rule for how large projects in the area are approved.

What happens next

The protest is set for the morning of Wednesday, Nov. 11, on Calzada de Tlalpan outside the lot. Residents said it will run alongside the legal challenges they are preparing. Ferreira said it was sad that neighbors have to mobilize to get the authorities to hear them. Drivers on Calzada de Tlalpan near colonia Atlántida may see the demonstration that morning.

Source: El Universal