Hi Ali,
Welcome to our forum! It sounds to me like you aren't very clear on the concession law and Costa Rica's Maritime Zone. I would suggest that you not rush into anything, just yet. If you are looking at a particular piece of property I don't believe the seller (your realtor?) has fully disclosed to you what you are thinking of buying.
Here is a pretty good introduction to Costa Rica's Maritime Zone Law that was passed in 1978:
Costa Rica's Beaches - Maritime Zone LawIn regards to your questions, maybe I can shed some light:
For example, if I buy this parcel , then develop the land, or sell it off in parcels. And when the 20 years expires, what rights does the municipality have? In regards to re-posses the property? What about the improvements made? What about selling off the rights to the concession? etc? Thanks for any help
You can't legally re-sell Maritime zone! The right to the concession can be sold (transferred), but I'm not sure how legal (or ethical) it would be to subdivide the rights. My guess would be they have to be sold in their entirety. Concessions are from 5 - 20 years. They can be renewed, but the city has every right not to renew and open a bidding process for the parcel. So basically the city has every right to everything you have built.
It is possible that you are talking about a farm on the beach. So in this case you have to be clear that not all beach property is concession property. A classic case would be a 20 hectare farm (100 acres) on the beach. The first 200 meters along the shore is the maritime zone property. Of this, the 50 meters next to the waterline is public property. The next 150 is restricted access, and can be leased in concession by the city. Every part of the farm beyond this point is private propery and titled (hopefully) in the national registry.
So let's say the farm has 100 meters of beach frontage property. Of the 20 hectares, only 1.5 hectares would be concession (Maritime Zone) Property. This is the 150 meters of restricted access, om the water line multiplied by the 100 meters of beach frontage (15000 square meters or 1.5 hectares). (Obviously you shouldn't be counting the 50 meters of public land within the property area).
In this case, the developer would normally build only a minimum of structures (like a beach club) in this restricted access area.
The remaining 18.5 hectares can be developed and subdivided as you wish, within the limits of the municipal zoning plan. Any improvements would not revert back to the city, because they would take place on titled land.
Hopefully between this answer and the article that will clear things up, but please don't hesitate to ask further questions!
