El Javea Town Hall wants to show its discomfort for the "little institutional respect" shown by the Alicante Port Authority, chaired by José Joaquín Ripoll, having acted behind their back and made decisions regarding the use that will be given to the Cape San Antonio lighthouse "Without consulting the municipality in which it is located."
Therefore, in a letter addressed to the Minister of Development Ana Pastor, the Mayor of Xàbia Jóse Chulvi has urged that "any transaction or authorization for the conversion of the lighthouse in a hotel establishment is paralyzed." In the same document, the mayor has requested that from now on, "informing the council of any decision or action affecting the building ", according to municipal sources.
After knowing the interests in the lighthouse of the Cape San Antonio through the media and not through a document, report or meeting arranged with the governing board of Xàbia, the City Council asked the Alicante Port Authority for all possible information about the achievement of this project. The answer is a dossier in which the entity itself admits that it is being developed "without giving knowledge at any time to this City Council of the procedures that are being carried out".
The same document states that There are three proposals have been received for the lighthouse Xàbia within the "Lighthouses of Spain" program launched by the Ministry of Public Works to value the network of lighthouses in the country giving hotel use through concessions to respect its heritage value.
Two of them are to house a small hotel and a restaurant and the third is to convert the site into an Environmental Interpretation Center (the lighthouse is located within the Natural Park Montgó) with a multipurpose room and a restaurant. Finally, the idea that has gained the most is to build a six-room hotel, cafeteria, restaurant, and massage service that would create two jobs. The reform would involve an investment of 540.000 euros with a 30-year concession and a monthly operating fee of 2.500 euros.
The Consistory regrets that only took into account the economic factor especially when the building is in the natural park of Montgó.
It is not very clear to me whether the City Council agrees or not to convert the Cabo de San Antonio lighthouse into a hotel. After the tremendous fire suffered, it seems outrageous to me, since, apart from the fact that the investment is very high, it does not contribute anything -on the contrary- to the protection of the environment: more traffic, more people kicking everything ... I think the possibility should be considered to establish a permanent fire prevention post, also taking advantage of the Environmental Center, but that this not only served to bring together four cats, but also really took care of such a delicate ecological system, including the possibility of reporting infractions, both from individuals and from official bodies (garbage collection, mountain cleaning, etc.)