A planning application for a 15-storey hotel on the Sliema seafront has been recommended for approval by the Planning Authority, days after activists accused the developer of building higher than permitted.
Back in 2023, developer Carlo Stivala filed the application PA/03229/23 to turn a plot on the corner of Triq ix-Xatt and Triq San Lunzjata into a 15-floor hotel.
He had previously obtained permission to demolish the building on the site that previously held a bank and rebuild it into an eight-floor apartment block (PA/03533/13). That was in 2013. Three years later, the Planning Authority approved a new permit to add a ninth floor to the building (PA/06534/16).
Last week, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar accused Stivala of having built 13 storeys on the site, despite having only obtained a permit that allowed for nine.
Stivala has denied breaking any laws and says that critics are incorrectly calculating the height of the yet-to-be-finished building.
On Friday, just three days after the controversy erupted, the PA’s case officer recommended the application be granted permission, after it had been pending for well over a year.
Residents also reported that people could be seen working on the site since Tuesday of last week, despite a PA spokesperson telling Times of Malta that works had been “stopped”.
“Further to your query kindly note that works have been stopped on site and are still stationary, there is also a pending sanctioning application,” the PA said in reply to questions.
Photos sent to Times of Malta showed workers present at the site on Friday.
The FAA is objecting to the development, saying that it will create blank party walls within the urban conservation area (UCA) and that the plans for the massive building exceed the maximum allowable building height.
The fact that the site is designated as falling within a UCA and a residential area runs counter to planning policies, the group has said, adding that care should be taken to protect the predominantly two-storey townhouse streetscape.
They also charge that the proposed building would breach sanitary rules, which establish that the height-to-width ratio should not exceed three times the width of the street. As Triq San Vincenz is 6.26 metres wide, the proposed height of the building would be more than five times the width of the street.