PA refuse four-storey home for elderly in Żabbar ODZ

The planning authority has turned down an outline application for a four-storey home for the elderly on outside development zone land in Żabbar.

The application raised concerns when it was filed last August, with plans showing a sprawling 92-room complex covering over 4,250 square metres and reaching almost 18 metres in height.

The plans also featured excavation for three underground floors, to be used for staff services and a 153-car parking area.

The application was filed by Clinton Spiteri, who owns the land.

Spiteri sought to make use of a clause in Malta's development policies that allows the construction of elderly homes on ODZ land, in cases where the applicant has exhausted all other options within the development zone.

Spiteri’s architect, former Labour MP Charles Buhagiar, told the planning board that the application was not to build an elderly home, but to determine whether such a site could potentially be feasible for such a project.

Buhagiar requested that the hearing be suspended, saying it was “premature,” given the relevant impact studies had not yet been completed.

However, the planning directorate rebutted that the application was a “non-starter”.

The application had been slated for refusal by the project’s case officer, who described it as “inappropriate within the surrounding context”.

On Thursday, the PA's planning board agreed with the case officer's decision in a unanimous (9-0) decision. 

Aside from being on ODZ land, the proposed development is in an agricultural area, an area of ecological and scientific importance and a protected valley, the case officer noted.

The proposal “constitutes an unacceptable negative impact on the unique and sensitive setting of the site,” the case officer’s report said.

Several bodies and NGOs had objected to the plans, including ERA, which described it as “unacceptable in principle,” the Żabbar local council, and Din L-Art Ħelwa.