The plenary session of the Agüimes City Council gave initial approval on Monday to the modification of the municipal beach ordinance. The primary objective is to enhance coexistence and safety on Vargas beach, a key location for water sports such as surfing, windsurfing, kitesurfing, and wing foiling, whose growing popularity had led to conflicts and risks.

The Councillor for Beaches, Juani Martel, detailed that the reform establishes specific regulations for swimming zones and sports areas. These areas will be clearly differentiated and marked with municipal signage, prohibiting water sports within the designated swimming zones.

The ordinance also forbids the use of swimming areas, solariums, and ramps for preparing sports equipment like boards, sails, or kites outside the designated areas. "With this improvement, we aim to ensure that swimmers and athletes have separate spaces, thus fostering good coexistence on the beach," stated Martel.

In authorized sports zones, the handling of nautical equipment will be permitted provided it is done in an orderly manner and without endangering others. Non-compliance with these rules may be considered a serious infraction and lead to the immediate interruption of the activity by surveillance services or law enforcement agents.

Additionally, it is regulated that in coastal stretches not designated as swimming zones, aquatic activities must maintain a protection buffer of 200 meters on beaches and 50 meters along the rest of the coastline. The document will be publicly displayed for 30 days to receive objections.

Furthermore, the council approved a budgetary modification of 1,278,522.71 euros for various urban, social, and sports initiatives. Highlights include the rehabilitation of the degraded area of the La Paz urbanization in Cruce de Arinaga (806,038.71 euros), the expropriation of properties in La Banda for future public facilities (362,484 euros), and the construction of sports courts in the urban park of Cruce de Arinaga (110,000 euros).