RE:

Catherine and Richard Schultz

Schultz response to complaints: 2014-SRQ-47046,
2014-INS-34840
PO Box
680
Calle Num. 1, Lote Num. C-8

December 7, 2015

Culebra, PR 00775
email: culebradc@gmail.com"

!Complaints Division: Divisin Querrellas

December 7, 2015

Permits Management Office/Oficina de Gerencia de Permisos (OGPe)

PO Box 41179
San Juan, PR 00940-1179

!RE: Response to OGPe Enforcement Action based on Complaint Numbers: 2014-SRQ-47046, 2014INS-34840
!We are writing in response to the enforcement action taken against our sixteen year old residence located
in the low income public parcelas of Culebra.(1) We were unable to access information electronically
from OGPes SIPP data base, using the complaint numbers referenced in your action, and listed above.
Should the agency decide after reading this to move forward with this action, we will require certified
copies of 1) our complete case file, 2) any and all documents associated with this action against us, 3)
certified copies of our construction and use permits, and/or negative certifications that led this agency to
conclude we did not have construction and use permits when we built in 1999, and the report issued by
the agency from the March 17, 2014 site visit conducted at our neighbors resulting from our complaint
number 2014-SRQ-38306, filed February 23, 2014.

!While we understand that the burden of proof for these agency allegations falls upon OGPe, and while we
are fully cooperating to the best of our abilities, this has placed undue burden and stress on us to defend
our house from fines and demolition associated with this action to produce any and all evidence the
agency by virtue of its authority, should already have. !

!We are asking that the agency reconsider this action, including the fine and threat of demolition of
our sixteen year old home on Culebra, for the following reasons:
! 1) OGPes allegations of violations against us are not clearly articulated, nor do they benefit from

specific legal annotation clarifying how the four specific findings recorded at the site visit, conducted
over a year ago, constitute specific violations of the planning laws and regulations. Based on the
penalty imposed for failing to present to the permitting agency a copy of our sixteen year old use
permit, OGPe appears to be taking a strong action under on the assumption of illegal construction and
use of our house. It is to us unbelievable that the agency has taken such an irresponsible and
devastating action against us without clarifying or presenting evidence of these alleged violations.
The agency places the full burden of evidence on the citizen.

!2) At the time of the site visit, the agency never notified us they were at our house. Photos or any
evidence collected at this site visit has not been made available for us to assess.
!3) The agency has failed to provide evidence, including negative certifications from the secretary
confirming that, as OGPe alleges, our house has no construction and use permits in our case file.
!4) We obtained our construction permits on March 26,1999,(#A-99-77-A-315-SPC) (2), nearly a

decade prior to the ratification of Law 161, and thirteen years prior to the unconstitutional ratification
of Culebra as an Autonomous Municipality in 2012.(3) This OGPe action references Articles, Regs

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RE: Schultz response to complaints: 2014-SRQ-47046, 2014-INS-34840

December 7, 2015

and Chapters associated with Law 161, 2009, as amended, ratified one decade after our construction
and use permits were granted. Neither the law nor the alleged R-1 zoning change referenced in this
OGPe action was in place when our single family residence was permitted in 1999, and therefor this
action taken by OGPe against us, fails to reference the applicable planning laws and regulations as
required by Article 14.5 of Puerto Rico Law Num. 161, 2009.

!5) At the time we were permitted, in 1999, the zoning was RO-25C. Our lot number was #9, and

documents reveal that the Municipality has us recorded under the catastro num., 77-476-022-9C.
We never received notification of the change in our lot number, now 8C, the change in zoning of the
public parcelas we live in to R-1, nor the current catastronum. as it appears on the CRIM maps of:
473-093-024-28.

!6) The length of time that has transpired between the complaints filed to your agency and the

subsequent action (over one year) from site visit to enforcement notification, violates the fifteen day
constraint imposed upon your agency by Law 161, 2009, clearly intended by legislators to keep the
new permitting and enforcement process on the fast track. If one considers the length of time between
the issuance of our permits in 1999 and this enforcement action it becomes even more questionable.

!7) The length of time between the complaint and resulting order has rendered two of the four

findings completely moot. In other words, what was observed by the inspector back in October of
2014, does not reflect the site today.(4) At no time did we have or operate a commercial welding or
mechanics shop. There was a small arc welder and tools enjoyed for personal use as a hobby and also
small repairs on our own personal vehicles and occasionally those of friends. Since October of 2014,
all of our own personal vehicles and our bicycles have been sold to cover legal and moving expenses
associated with harassment and threats associated with escalating conflicts with illegal Island Charm
Guest House next door. Conflicts were documented by local police on Feb 15, 2014,
#2014-12-025-00124, and May 23rd, #2014-12-025-0359 From our perspective, the behaviors of the
owners, manager and construction crew at the illegal Island Charm Guest House associated with the
operation of their illegal guest house seemed intent on driving us out possibly to accommodate the
parking needs of their illegal guest house. Currently, the number of parking spaces they need to
accommodate the illegal guest house when it is at full capacity would be at least 8.5. This would be
2.5, for the owners large SUV, boat and boat trailer parked in front of Island Charm and currently
taking up street space in front of the neighbors to its west.(18) One space for the dinghy and trailer
currently occupying the illegal parking balcony whose footing was constructed directly atop our
property line, let alone the legally required 8 foot setback. Their three rental rooms may need to
accommodate two drivers per room, which could total six or more rental vehicles at full occupancy of
the illegal short term rental rooms being booked under the names of Island Charms Sea Horse Suite,
Island Charms Sea Turtle Studio, and Island Charms Sand Dollar Studio. In all it appears that they
need a total of 8.5 parking spaces to accommodate this commercial guest house, operating in violation
of the alleged R-1 zoning, in this dense, residential, low income neighborhood and its our personal
belief that this is what motivated their aggression against us.(5) This guest house is and has been
operating since May of 2014, irrespective of what the owners informed OGPe.(6)

!6) Based on these facts, it is clear that this OGPe enforcement action is a brash, retaliatory response

to complaints filed by project proponents to our Motion for Reconsideration, filed with OGPe, August
6, 2014, (2014-RVA-19224) The motion for reconsideration was in opposition of the approval of an
illegal construction and variance proposed by Heather DJangali and Ing. Felix Caraballo Ortiz (LIC #
8472.) This hearing resulted in a ruling by OGPe that Heather DJangalis construction, now known
as the illegal Island Charm Guest House was indeed built and operated without permits, (7) and
continues to operate in violation of the alleged R-1 zoning. During and since this ruling, the guest
house has continued operations, with the subsequent promotion and sales of rooms, some indicating
the collection of a tourism tax without benefit of legal construction or use permits. (5) We therefor

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RE: Schultz response to complaints: 2014-SRQ-47046, 2014-INS-34840

December 7, 2015

understand these actions against us to be linked to actions we took against the illegal Island Charm
Guest House with your agency.
7) We are submitting in our defense the recent case filed against OGPe, Heather DJangali and Ing.
Felix Caraballo Ortiz, on the 19th of October, 2015. This case, # KLRA-2015-1179 documents the
last few years of struggles regarding the illegal construction and use of the Island Charm Guest
House. We believe that this enforcement action taken against us and our house from the OGPe site
visit performed over 13 months ago, may also constitute an act of retaliation by your agency in
response to this case. (8)

!8) The Notifications section of this OGPe action. indicates a copy of this action was sent to Mr.

Reinaldo Sanabria at sanabria22@hotmail.com, implicating him as the citizen who filed these
complaints against us. OGPe accepted this complaint apparently without demonstration of standing as
currently required by Law 161, 2009.
9) In addition to his lack of legal standing, we learned Mr. Sanabria has an egregious conflict of
interest in filing this complaint. This further supports our position that the complaint or complaints
issued to OGPe are retaliatory. Sanabria is part of the team of project proponents working for Heather
DJangali, to legalize the construction now known as the illegal Island Charm Guest House. We
learned this at the second and final hearing for OGPes motion for reconsideration (2014-RVA-19224)
that Sanabria is an employee of Certified Ing. Felix Caraballo Oritz, when he, and not Caraballo
Oritiz, testified that he was the one who obtained the fraudulent ACDEC endorsement for the building
now known as the illegal Island Charm Guest House directly from the Culebra ACDEC secretary.
Sanabria testified that the fault was not DJangalis, but that it was the fault of the ACDEC secretary
who printed the fraudulent endorsement off her computer complete with the Mayors signature. At that
time this apparently raised no red flags with the recipients of the document, who subsequently
uploaded this into OGPe's case file database, in support of their project. The fraudulent endorsement
exposed in this process is now under DOJ/CIC investigation. The ACDEC secretary as since moved to
Florida. (9, 10)

!10) It appears that the copy of our use permit was one of the old documents recently destroyed in our

house as a result of a window left open by a care taker and subsequent rain damage during Tropical
Storm Erika, September of 2015. We had already moved from our house at this time to avoid the
harassment and physical threats from the owners and workers associated with the illegal Island Charm
Guest House next door. We stored these documents unfortunately in a cardboard box, too close to a
window we assumed to be closed and locked. To demonstrate documentation of a use permit on
our 16 year old residential home, we are presenting documentation of a service initiated only
upon presentation of a use permit. Specifically, service payment receipts that document our
commercial electric hook up. (11)

!11)We are submitting in our defense copies of our municipal patentes for the rental business from

2001-2016. The municipality required us to present our use permit in order to obtain these. These
patentes also require annual inspections from the fire and health departments, many years of which
were conducted by our current Mayor, the Hon. William Ivan Solis when he was a Culebra fireman.
(12)

!12)We are submitting in our defense Certification de Formalizacin de Poliza, another old

document that survived the Erika related flood. It is dated the 14th of September, 1999, and
apparently demonstrates insurance payment made for the construction and use permit for the year
99-2000. (13)

!13)In answer to OGPes vague allegation regarding the finding of the incomplete construction at our

house site, our original construction permits were granted in 1999 based in part on an 148 pages long

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RE: Schultz response to complaints: 2014-SRQ-47046, 2014-INS-34840

December 7, 2015

Technical Specifications Manual submitted by the Architect, Deborah A Franqui Catinchi, LIC
012962. The Technical Spec Manual was accepted and approved by ARPE.(14) On page 2 of
Section 01010, 1.6 -Work Sequence -A the work plan accepted and permitted by ARPE in 1999 states
the following: Construct work in phases to accommodate owners occupancy requirements during
the construction period, coordinate construction schedule and operations with owner. Phases to be
discussed with owner and the Architect / Engineer before construction starts.
Ultimately, our ARPE permits allowed us to leave all but the first phase of construction at our
planning discretion after committing to a slow growth model where we could expand as finances
permitted, and at stopping points where site remains safe and secure. This entire technical manual is
available to your agency upon request, and/or should be available to you in our case file.

!14) We are submitting in our defense a screen shot of the current CRIM map that lists our Num. de

Catastro #473-093-024-28. We are one of the only families that has existed long enough in CRIMs
database to appear in CRIMs online GIS map, in this area of the parcelas. Many of the other
parcelas do not have reference to the names of the owners. (15)

!15) We are submitting in our defense a copy of Page 17 of the Municipal Regulation that governs the

management of Culebras public parcelas, which indicates that it is permissible to operate small
commercial businesses within restrictions in these parcelas, as long as they are not within one km of a
similar business, among other restrictions. (16)

!16) We have to question why our house raised no issue during a site visit conducted in March 17th,

2014, by Executive Director Alberto Lastra Power and a team of technicians from OGPe to the
neighboring property operating as the Island Charm Guest House. Mr. Lastra spoke to us out front of
our house, regarding complaint (2014-SRQ-38306) we issued against the illegal construction
complex next door, which at that time had been proposed and submitted to the agency as a single
family residence (17), but had already constructed three levels from the ground up. At that time,
Executive Director Lastra, nor the technicians mentioned no problem with our house.

!
!Requested
! BasedAction:
on the evidence submitted above, we ask that you cease this unsubstantiated enforcement

action, arbitrary fine and threat of demolition of our sixteen year old home on Culebra. This action on
the part of your agency is the final punctuation mark on a life sentence already mandated by OGPes two
years of lack meaningful of oversight to the over shadowing, construction complex erected next door to
us. We began issuing formal complaints regarding the neighbors activities two weeks after their single
family construction permits were issued,(17) and six months into the illegal construction of the three story
apartment complex erected under different plans on February 23, 2014, complaint # 2014-SRQ-38306.

When we reported our concerns to the Culebra Conservation and Development Authority, one of
their Secretarys explained how the hotels in the parcelas were being constructed by submitting single
family residence plans, and then submitting amendments until the actual hotel structures built were later
legalized by OGPe. She defended these illegal activities explaining that people have the right to do
whatever they want to on their own property. I guess it makes a certain kind of sense in that why should a
people believe in zoning, if they have never seen zoning?

Local police consistently supported the owners of the illegal Island Charm Guest House. When
we called, for example, in August of 2014 to report that the construction workers were trespassing on our
property to install the a parking balcony, (18) police refused to take our complaint. In November of 2014,
a local policeman attempted to illegally confiscate our camera after the project proponents informed him
that we captured a photo of an aggressive and obscene gesture made at us out of the illegal guest houses
window.(19) How Island Charming?! Construction workers once tossed lit cigarette butts down on us

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RE: Schultz response to complaints: 2014-SRQ-47046, 2014-INS-34840

December 7, 2015

REFERENCE LINKS:

1) OGPe enforcement action against the Schultzs: https://es.scribd.com/doc/291468158/

OGPe-vs-Schultz-s

Construction-Permit-1999-2000

2) Schultz copy construction permit: https://es.scribd.com/doc/292369888/Schultz-Approved-

3) Alleged Autonomous Municipality and Zoning changes: https://es.scribd.com/doc/

180752429/Plan-de-Ordinacion-Territorial-de-Culebra-pdf

!
4) Current State of the Property PHOTO:
!

https://es.scribd.com/doc/292394537/Schultz-s-Home-Dec-2015

5) Online Booking pages google search print outs for the illegal Island Charm Guest House,
documenting parking needs:
The illegal Island Charm Guest House web page: http://islandcharmculebra.com/
The illegal Island Charm Guest House Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/islandcharmculebra/

Island Charm SEA TURTLE STUDIO_HOME AWAY

https://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p3718627

Island Charm SEA TURTLE STUDIO_ AIR B&B

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/6412704

Island Charm SEA TURTLE STUDIO_Robandalo la Gente

https://robandoalagente.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/anejo-replica-oposicion.pdf

Island Charm SEA TURTLE STUDIO_google search results

https://es.scribd.com/doc/292362190/Sea-Turtle-Studio-Culebra-Google-Search

Island Charm SEA HORSE STUDIO_Air B&B

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/6411206

Island Charm SEA HORSE STUDIO_Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/islandcharmculebra/photos/a.826813757358957.1073741831.751277344912599/826825644024435/

Island Charm SEA HORSE STUDIO Google Search Results

https://es.scribd.com/doc/292363240/Sea-Horse-Studio-Culebra-Island-Charm-Google-Search

Sand Dollar Studio

Island Charm Sand Dollar Studio
https://es.scribd.com/doc/292378046/Island-Charm-s-Sand-Dollar-Studio-Google-Search

This link shows Island Charms current parking demand when not even close to its full illegal
capacity: https://es.scribd.com/doc/292394537/Schultz-s-Home-Dec-2015

6) Djangalis attorney tells OGPe they are not operating a Guest House:
https://es.scribd.com/doc/249427148/DJangali-Motion-Oct-2014-No-Promocion

7) OGPe Motion for Reconsideration Ruling:

https://es.scribd.com/doc/248645667/DJangali-Resolucion-Final-OGPE-NO-PERMISOS

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RE: Schultz response to complaints: 2014-SRQ-47046, 2014-INS-34840

December 7, 2015

8) Schultz Vs. OGPe, Heather DJangali, Ing Felix Caraballo Ortiz

https://es.scribd.com/doc/291381040/Schultz-vs-OGPe-Heather-D-Jangali-Ing-Felix-Ortiz-KLRA-2015-01179

9) CIC investigation email:

https://es.scribd.com/doc/291433230/Schultz-vs-D-Jangali-Apendice-Num-13-Pp-247-248

10) ACDEC Declarada regarding fraudulent ACDEC endorsement in OGPe file:

https://es.scribd.com/doc/243237908/FRAUD-Island-Charm-Guest-House-Mocion-de-Municipio-a-ACDEC

11) Electric bill receipts documenting commercial hook up since 1999:

https://es.scribd.com/doc/292380913/Schultz-Commercial-Electric-Documentation

12) Schultz patentes - documentation of use permit in 2001:

https://es.scribd.com/doc/292381582/Schultz-Patentes-Parcelas

13) Certification de Polizo for Construction and Use Permit:

https://es.scribd.com/doc/292382117/Schultz-Cert-de-Polizo-Construcction-and-Use

14) Front Page Stamped Accepted of Technical Manual Approved by ARPe:

https://es.scribd.com/doc/292367034/Schultz-technical-Spec-Approved-Page-1-1

15) CRIM Map:

https://es.scribd.com/doc/291975245/Schultz-CRIM-MAP-Screen-Shot-2015-12-02-at-3-31-04-PM-pdf

16) Pg 17 Municipal Regs, Public parcelas of Culebra.

https://es.scribd.com/doc/292384256/Comercials-Municipal-Parcelas-Mensura20151206-18034933

17) Djangali initial permit application

for a single family dwelling:

https://es.scribd.com/doc/249427802/Memorial-OGPE-signed
18) Island Charm - NO legal setback on East or West Property Boundary:
http://www.coralations.phanfare.com/6478777#imageID=251336159
West:
http://www.coralations.phanfare.com/6478777#imageID=228052258
East
http://www.coralations.phanfare.com/6478777#imageID=222089626
http://www.coralations.phanfare.com/6478777#imageID=223765198

!
19) Island Charms T
!

ropical Bird: http://www.coralations.phanfare.com/6478777#imageID=235506248

20) Drone Day -5/-7/2015,

http://www.coralations.phanfare.com/6478777#imageID=251294256
http://www.coralations.phanfare.com/6478777#imageID=251294272

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