The ruling launched Wednesday prompted the federal government to take the unprecedented step of briefly suspending entry to the web site the place folks apply for permits. Whereas entry was restored Thursday, confusion nonetheless reigned as folks started to query whether or not they’re allowed to function a brand new enterprise they opened, preserve a brand new deck they constructed or begin from scratch and procure new permits in the event that they had been in mid-construction of a hospital or different buildings.

“This places our weak financial system in danger,” mentioned Luis Vega Ramos, basic secretary of the primary opposition Standard Democratic Occasion.

On Thursday, Manuel Cidre, secretary of the Division of Financial Growth and Commerce, issued an announcement saying folks can proceed to use for permits as common, noting that the doc voided by the island’s Supreme Court docket would stay in impact “till all authorized cures are exhausted.”

Environmental legal professional Verónica González confirmed that the present land-use plan would stay in impact till the Supreme Court docket’s determination is closing, including that the federal government has two alternatives to enchantment. Nonetheless, she famous that anybody can now go to court docket and declare {that a} allow issued for a sure enterprise or building challenge is unlawful given the ruling.

“Uncertainty is at all times going to create issues,” she mentioned.

The state of affairs led officers on Thursday to announce the resignation of María Cintrón, auxiliary secretary of the Allow Administration Workplace, which falls below Cidre’s division.

On Wednesday, Cintrón had introduced that she suspended the web site for allow functions out of warning and to guard the transparency and certainty of the method, saying, “we acknowledge this can be a complicated difficulty that can’t be taken calmly.”

Gabriel Rodríguez, a earlier president of Puerto Rico’s Planning Society, blamed the present state of affairs on current administrations he mentioned are pursuing a public coverage that promotes financial growth and a simplified allow course of above a former land-use plan that goals to guard sure areas for historic, environmental or agronomic causes.

It’s the third time Puerto Rico’s Supreme Court docket invalidates the present doc that governs land use and permits on the island.

“This has was mission unimaginable,” González, the legal professional, mentioned of the federal government’s insistence to make use of the land-use plan. “That is the third strike.”