New apartment block plans for rejected Santa Luċija ‘pencil’ site
In March 2023, Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti ruled that any new building had to respect the context of its surrounding structures.
The site where a landmark court ruling halted a ‘pencil’ development in Santa Luċija is once again before the courts, this time over new plans to build a three-apartment block in a street lined with townhouses.
Following approval by the Planning Appeals Tribunal, the Santa Luċija local council recently challenged the development in court.
The plans would see the existing terraced house demolished and a basement, ground floor garage and three flats, including a penthouse, built instead.
The ground-level apartment (which will include a garage on the same floor) and the first-floor apartment would be in line with the rest of the terraced houses on Triq il-Ġibjun.
The Planning Authority refused the application (PA/05677/23) in June 2024 because the receded penthouse would disturb the area’s uniform streetscape.
Their decision rested largely on a court sentence two years ago for the same site that stopped the terraced house being turned into a four-apartment and penthouse development.
In March 2023, Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti ruled that the local plans allowing buildings of four storeys plus a receded floor (4+1) did not automatically entitle developers to a permit for that height.
He ruled that any new building had to respect the context of its surrounding structures.
The decision was widely regarded as a landmark ruling, as it overturned the assumption that applicants had an automatic right to build to the maximum height permitted by local plans.
After the PA refused the fresh applications, applicant Gino Ellul and his architect Robert Musumeci appealed to the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal (EPRT).
The EPRT ruled in favour of Ellul but said the penthouse should be receded further and reduced in size.
The EPRT made the decision after Ellul said he had made a real effort to adapt the design of his would-be apartment block to be in a similar style to nearby townhouses and had receded the penthouse further than the “standard” of three metres to 4.25 metres.
The Santa Luċija local council, represented by lawyers Edward Zammit Lewis, Michael Camilleri and Liam Sciberras (who is also PN minority leader in the local council), is appealing to the court to overturn the EPRT’s decision.