Jainer Garcia Arias and Alexi Jimenez Cardenas dig holes to fence in Samara's plaza. They say they want to reclaim the plaza so the school children have somewhere safe to play.

Every community in Costa Rica has four cornerstones: the church, the school, the community hall and the soccer field; well—almost every community. For the past seven years, Samara has been without a proper soccer field. 

Miguel Gomez, executive secretary of the Association of Development for Samara, along with community members Domingo Arias and Gerardo Arias raised the issue during an audience at a Municipal session on Monday, June 6 in Nicoya. Gomez explained that when the current coastal regulatory plan for Samara was put into place in 1981, the soccer field was destined as a park.  Seven years ago, based on the regulatory plan, the municipality closed the plaza, no longer permitting it to be used as a football field, but the plaza was never really converted into a park.
 
Samara’s plaza has simply sat as an empty field through the years. People park cars there, horses wander through it and trash gathers, and it doesn’t really benefit the community. And in the meantime, people have had to play soccer either on the beach (when the tide cooperates) or in travel to other communities like Carrillo.  However, a few community members, with the support of the Grupo Precooperativo Coopesamara (Precooperative Co-op Samara Group), have taken it upon themselves to clean up the plaza and prepare it so people can once again play soccer in the heart of Samara.  
 
Mayor Marcos Jimenez told VON that the Municipality should pay attention to the community but cautioned that the area is designated as a park in the regulatory plan. He said they would have to look into whether a partial or total change can be made to the regulatory plan based on article 17 of the law of urban planning.