This area is a low-lying plain close to the sea and the arenal beach. It is only 1.2m above sea level, but protected from salt water incursion by the elevated fossilised sand dunes (tosca) which runs along the coast. It is prone to flooding. In the past it was used for agriculture and during the Roman era (and for hundreds of years later) as a salt pan to extract salt from the sea. The Roman channel still exists today as the Sequia de la Noria.
Background on the past history of floods and flood risk of this region can be found in Jávea Floods
The Saladar is one of the last large areas of urbanisable land available in Xàbia. Despite the fact that it is a flood zone, ambitious urban plans have been submitted to develop this area.
In 2005 Salvador Vila proposed to develop this area, a proposal which was re-submitted in 2008 Vila proposal to urbanise the Saladar
The Saladar - Zoning under the draft 2008 PGOU shows that the periphery is earmarked for intensive urbanisation, while the centre is zoned as green and sports areas.
However a late ammendment to the Consultative Document for the PGOU, voted on in July 2010, designated the Saladar area as non-urbanisable, since it is a flood zone.
"La Zona inundable del Saladar con nivel de Riesgo 3 se sitúa en Suelo No Urbanizable"
Approval for this re-classification, must, however must come from the Valencia Government.
In Feb 2012 Biologist Jaume Soler proposed conserving and recuperating the area: See Soler's proposal for the Saladar
New proposals to develop the Saladar
April 20th 2015
Jávea Town Hall has received a new Integrated development proposal (PAI - Plan de Accion Integrada) for urban development of the Saladar. This will be a tricky issue for the new administration to tackle after the forthcoming elections. The new General Town Plan ( PGOU) has yet to be finalised and we are still operating under the 1990 regulations, which identifies the Saladar as an urbanisable area, although it is prone to flooding, and measures have to be taken to deal with this if any project is to be approved. Town Hall technicians are currently looking at the proposals which will be presented to the town's Consultative Committee on the environment and urban development before advancing. From XAD: Patata caliente...
Change in law closes door on the project
September 22nd 2016
Sept 26th
An ambitious development project promoted for the Saladar area by its 97 land owners has been stopped by a change in the law in Valencia. The project, on a flood prone wetland and the last development area along the Xàbia coast, consisted of a thousand houses and two luxury hotels in the creation of a "City of Sport" with finance from a British investment fund. The law of 1993, which only protected properly catalogued wetlands, (hence leaving the others as prey to developers) now covers them all, officially catalogued or not.
From: La Marina Plaza
Saladar saved ?
Oct 23rd 2016
At the recent meeting of the Consultative Committee on Urban develoment it was reported that: "The meeting also stated that after a modification of the Law of Natural Spaces, the area of the Saladar of Xàbia has been included among them and from now on is considered not availablefor development." From: El Mundo
The "City of Sport" project diagram
