Żabbar care home developer hits back at 'exaggerated' council claims
Developer says graphics shared by objectors to the plans are out of proportion
The developer of a Żabbar care home that has drawn bipartisan objections says images shared by objectors are misleading and the building will be much lower than they claim.
Speaking through his lawyer, developer Daniel Zahra of Danzah Group said imagery of the development’s building mass flagged by the Żabbar local council was “exaggerated”.
Zahra has obtained planning permission to develop a five-storey care home across the road from the Żabbar parish church, with planners saying the proposal is in line with the area’s local plan and relevanti policies.
But councillors, both Labour and Nationalist, say the building will ruin the historic town square and have called a protest outside the site on Monday evening. Various Labour figures, including party deputy leader Alex Agius Saliba, minister Clyde Caruana and other MPs have endorsed that protest.
As momentum against the project gathers steam, the developer on Saturday sought to put across his perspective, engaging his lawyer Ezekiel Psaila to do so.
On Saturday, Psaila said a computer-generated render of the proposal circulated by the local council was “exaggerated” and overstated the proposal’s height.
The care home will not even reach the upper limit of the yellow section of that graphic, he said, and its top floor would be recessed and therefore less visible from the street.
Psaila said his client’s proposal would rise to a maximum of 17.5 metres – the maximum permitted under the area’s local plan – while a neighbouring historic building, Dar Sagra Familja, was even taller, at 17.8 metres at its highest point.
He acknowledged that Zahra had initially sought permission to build a seven-storey care home at the site but noted that the PA had instructed him to reduce the proposal to a five-storey one. A similar, previous application for the site that would have turned into an apartment block had not drawn any council objections, the developer’s lawyer noted.
Zahra’s lawyer added that the planned care home would, once built, “complement the square, not uglify it” as it would feature a limestone facade and filigree features.
“I formally confirm that there will be no attempts in the future to increase additional floors in relation to this site, and I am prepared to enter into a contractual commitment to this effect,” Zahra said on social media.
It is not the only care home being planned for Żabbar: another, separate proposal seeks to develop such a home on Outside Development Zone virgin land. That plan, which is still at the planning stage, has already drawn criticism from one prospective Labour electoral candidate.