San José, April 24th, 2009.

Messrs

Clients, collaborators and friends

COLUMBUS HEIGHTS ESTATES PROJECT

Dear Clients, collaborators and friends,

It is for me a great pleasure to announce that, after a complex legal and administrative process held by Columbus Heights Estates the project has been granted its environmental license by SETENA. 

At 08:30 hours of March 22nd, 2009, SETENA issued resolution number 954-2009, by which the Costa Rican environmental authority conceded Columbus Heights Estates its Environmental Feasibility License. Said resolution acknowledges and states that the mitigation measures proposed in the Environmental Diagnosis were duly implemented, that there is no evidence of sediments in the superficial water sources and that all wetlands and buffer zones were duly respected. Furthermore, it also clarifies to Mr. Morris Eugene Walker that his assertions on the zone referred to as “fifth wetland zone in Columbus Heights Project“ not being a “Non Construction Area“ are inaccurate, as it actually is an Authorized Zone of Construction, subject to the contention and protection of superficial water.

This means that the project has successfully obtained all the necessary authorizations to operate, and that it will now be able to request the water concession for the use and exploitation of its water wells -which is the only pending permit, subject precisely to the issuance of the aforementioned environmental license-.

From the beginning, Columbus Heights was envisioned as a model real estate development in Costa Rica. As developers, we aimed to create a project who’s planning and design would cater to needs and desires of our costumers, albeit maintaining a harmonious balance and respect for nature and the environment. Our goal was and continues to be the development of an environmentally and socially viable community, without compromising the standards of quality and comfort that buyers look for in their investments.

For said purpose, we successfully obtained the relevant permits of all the involved governmental entities, including the Municipality of Garabito (local government), the National Urbanism Institute (INVU), the Federated Board of Engineers and Architects of Costa Rica, the National System of Protected Areas, etc., agencies whose approvals are a token of our commitment in providing a top quality product.

As you know, the project has been ready with all the required licensing for several months now, except for the Environmental Feasibility License, which remained subject to multiple bureaucratic and operative controls by SETENA. Its attainment required an intense labor from our legal counsel, who undertook the weighty task of complying with this entity’s requirements.

As I have mentioned in my past communications, despite the multiple hindrances and difficulties posed upon the project by SETENA, as developers we always maintained a proactive and responsive attitude, offering at all times our collaboration and resorting even to the highest instances, namely the entity’s Secretary and the Vice-Minister of the Environment, Energy and Telecommunications Ministry (MINAET), aiming to expedite the issuing of this license.

Along the process, we provided all the necessary documentation, environmental impact studies, warranties and affidavits, which successfully demonstrated the project’s environmental feasibility.

Today, we take great pleasure in announcing that the project is formally finished and has all the pertinent permits. Upon the approval of your particular project, you may begin to build and enjoy the house of your dreams.

As developers, nothing satisfies us more than delivering to each of you a unit in a project that has been created under the highest standards of quality, and whose development reflects positively in the environment and the community. Today, and thanks to the cooperation of our costumers, Columbus Heights Estates is a real estate project with a marginal environmental effect in its surroundings, but with a deep influence in the community of Quebrada Amarilla, whose elementary school now enjoys a Computing Laboratory donated by the project.

By this means we want to acknowledge and show our gratitude to all our customers, whose vote of confidence and unconditional support and cooperation have been essential to the success of this project; as well as to offer you our most sincere apologies for the delay in obtaining the aforementioned license, hindrance that is solely imputable to the bureaucratic difficulties proper of public entities in Costa Rica.

PAUL IWANKOWSKI

President - Coastal Property Management, S.A.

Setena Resolution in Spanish

Setena Resolution in English ( Translated )

Permits Payment to Setena