Summer 2026 Newsletter
The Municipalization of Todos Santos
Protect Todos Santos has begun evaluating the possibility of the Todos Santos region, from Elias Calle in the south to Agua Blanca in the north becoming its own municipality, independent of La Paz. Our preliminary analysis has focused on the legal requirements, financial feasibility, and potential benefits of local government. Our analysis and a draft of the plan is available on the Reports and Documents page at www.protecttodossantos.org
The revenues the new municipality would receive include state and federal funding, and local revenues from property taxes, property-transfer taxes, and development fees.
Creating a new municipality would require gathering signatures, approval by a two-thirds vote of local registered voters, and final approval by the State Congress.
What Municipalization Could Mean for Our Community
Control over our future. Develop our own land-use plan (PDU) based on the community's vision for sustainable growth, rather than relying on the La Paz PDU.
Local government and accountability. Elect our own municipal leaders and establish a government that is accessible, responsive, and accountable to our residents.
Keep local tax revenues. Preliminary estimates suggest a municipal budget of approximately MXN 480–600 million (US$24–30 million) annually, subject to verification of revenues and funding allocations.
Better roads and public spaces. Local crews can be hired to maintain paved and dirt roads, develop parks and hiking trails, and improve public spaces that benefit residents and visitors.
Essential infrastructure. Invest in a new landfill, wastewater treatment facilities, and other infrastructure needed to support the community while protecting the environment.
Public safety. Establish and equip our own municipal police, fire and emergency services (Bomberos).
Water security. Invest in aquifer recharge and protection, improve water distribution to reduce the estimated 40% of water currently lost through leaks.
Environmental restoration. Protect and restore our dunes, arroyos, oasis, and lagoons, which are essential to the region's environment, character, and tourist economy.
Why Local Control Matters
The recently adopted La Paz PDU for the Todos Santos region illustrates why local control is so important. In 2020, the region had approximately 12,150 residents. The new PDU provides for approximately 40,000 additional residential lots, with the potential to accommodate more than 120,000 additional people if fully developed.
Most importantly, the new PDU does not identify how the infrastructure and resources required to support growth on that scale would be provided or funded including adequate water, wastewater treatment plants, electrical service, roads, schools, and healthcare facilities.
Today, major decisions about our land use, infrastructure, and future growth are ultimately made by the Municipality of La Paz. As a result, our community must compete for funding and attention with a much larger urban population, and it is hard to believe that funding will ever make its way to Todos Santos because La Paz has about MXN 2 billion (US $110 million) of debt.
How Would a New Municipality Be Governed?
Todos Santos residents would elect a Mayor (Presidente Municipal), a Municipal Trustee (Síndico), and City Council members (Regidores) to serve three-year terms. Together, they would form the municipal government, responsible for approving budgets, land-use plans, public services, and local development policies. They would hire and oversee professional staff responsible for roads, water, wastewater, planning, police, fire protection, environmental protection, and other municipal services.
The key benefit would be local control: decisions about our community's future and how municipal revenues are spent would be made by officials elected by our residents, rather than by the government in La Paz. We will keep you posted as we move ahead.
Environmental Oversight Committee Formed
In May, working with our community members and PROFEPA, we helped establish a Comité de Vigilancia Ambiental Participativa (CVAP), or Environmental Participatory Oversight Committee, for our region. Committees like these are created by PROFEPA to give local communities a formal role in protecting their natural resources. Because federal environmental inspectors are in short supply they need help. Our committee now has 10 trained local volunteers serving as an important first line of environmental surveillance—monitoring our community, identifying potential violations, documenting problems and reporting them directly to PROFEPA. Committee members do not have enforcement powers, but they work in coordination with the federal environmental authority.
One important advantage is that complaints are no longer simply reports from individual residents. They are submitted by an organized committee whose members have been trained to recognize potential environmental violations and utilize PROFEPA's reporting procedures.
PROFEPA has specifically stated it will provide close follow-up to the environmental complaints and requests the committee submits. The committee has already reported 19 environmental concerns and illegal construction projects to PROFEPA, and they have responded positively to our efforts.
Our Actions this Summer Against Significant Illegal Projects
Ogden Dune Project — Las Tunas
We have been working for three years to stop development of this project on the dunes in Las Tunas. PROFEPA previously closed the project 2 years ago following legal action funded by Protect Todos Santos.
But several months ago, the municipality issued another building permit in the name of former owner Eddie Ogden, who had passed away more than a year earlier.
Protect Todos Santos has filed new complaints with both the municipality and PROFEPA challenging the permit and the project.
This has been a long, expensive and frustrating effort, but the outcome is important beyond this particular property. Other dune properties face similar development pressure, and the decisions made here will impact how these environmentally sensitive areas are treated in the future. Protecting the dunes will continue to be a priority for the organization along with our efforts to stop large development projects.
Cardon Living — Pescadero
Protect Todos Santos filed complaints with PROFEPA and the Municipality of La Paz regarding the Cardon Living project in Pescadero, which proposed construction of 18 homes without permits and environmental approvals. Following our complaints, the municipality shut the project down.
El Destino — Las Playitas
El Destino is a large development on approximately 93 hectares of land just north of Villa Santa Cruz that could ultimately create hundreds of lots. Protect Todos Santos filed complaints concerning the grading of the property and construction of a beach club in coastal wetlands without the required permits. PROFEPA subsequently closed the site and imposed sanctions for environmental damage.
In September, however, we received a resolution indicating that the violations would be addressed through a fine so we are concerned that this could allow development to continue. So we are now seeking permanent closure of the unauthorized work and restoration of the damaged coastal wetland. We are also pointing out that the area lacks electrical service and water, which is the responsibility of the developer to provide before they sell the lots.
Air Quality Monitoring of the Pescadero Landfill
Protect Todos Santos has created a strategic alliance with CERCA, a community network, to install three air-quality monitors near the Pescadero landfill. The monitors measure particulate pollution associated with the fires that regularly occur at the dump.
The monitors have been installed at the El Pescadero Fire Station, the local Kindergarden, and in the Trampuchete arroyo. We are also developing safety protocols and a warning system for alerting local residents when particulate pollution reaches hazardous levels.
The air monitoring is part of our broader effort to address the existing and illegal open dump, which is located too close to Pescadero and an arroyo so it threatens the air they breathe and the water they drink.
Raising awareness about the landfill problem and taking community action is the first step toward building an organized movement focused on protecting residents in the short term and creating a new landfill in the long term.
Ongoing Aquifer Monitoring
With the help of volunteer hydrologist Dave Mehan, we continue monthly monitoring of water levels in four wells associated with the Todos Santos aquifers as well as surface water flows in Arroyo La Reforma, which supplies water to the oasis and La Poza Lagoon.
This work helps us track water our water situation, understand groundwater recharge following rainfall, and identify when conservation measures may be needed. Long-term monitoring is especially important as development increases pressure on our already overdrawn aquifers.
Our thanks to Dave for his dedication and hard work over the past two years.
Partnerships and Collaboration
We are happy to report there is a state-wide movement working to protect Baja Sur from the continuation of over-development and degradation of our environment. Diego Ramirez our Executive Director is helping spearhead these efforts working with other environmental organizations and community groups throughout Baja California Sur. So far, they have successfully developed a proposed framework for protecting coastal dunes throughout the state.
SEMARNAT is involved and supporting this effort. We hope the resulting protections will ultimately be formally adopted, providing stronger protection for coastal dunes and environmentally protected areas throughout the state.
Protect Todos Santos has also maintained close relationships with other territorial defense movements throughout the state, including support for the defense of the Sierra de La Laguna and opposition to other large-scale developments in the Cabo area. We will continue to support these efforts and strengthen our partnerships with other groups to broaden our impact at the state level.
Thanks for your support
To all of our generous donors who have funded our organization for the past four years we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts and pledge that we will continue the fight to protect the Todos Santos region from over-development and work towards our vision of turning our community into a model of sustainability and in the creation of our own government.
For anyone interested in donating to support our efforts, please visit our website at www.protecttodossantos.org and click the Donate button.
Muchas Gracias,
The Team at Protect Todos Santos
