The Naxxar local council has backed a resolution proposed by a Labour councillor supporting the position taken by the Nationalist mayor on the Planning Authority board in December when she voted in favour of a massive high-rise development.

The residential and commercial complex is being built on the parking lot of the former Naxxar trade fair.

In a motion approved during a council meeting on Wednesday evening, the council said that mayor Anne Marie Muscat Fenech Adami’s PA vote reflected the council’s “opinion” and the stand it had taken during various meetings.

At the beginning of Wednesday’s meeting, Muscat Fenech Adami read out a message addressed to residents. She denounced claims and attacks which she said were aimed at damaging her reputation.

Minority leader Mario Brincat then proposed a resolution backing the Nationalist mayor which was seconded by Labour councillor Noel Gatt.

He said the mayor had never shown any conflict of interest on this project. On the contrary, the council managed to improve the proposed project through her work.

Gatt said that although they were on different party tickets, they formed part of one team that had been elected for the benefit of the locality. 

He added that with the exception of one person, all council members were in favour of the project. Unfortunately, there had been no show of support following the PA vote, he said.  

The council confirmed that the vote cast at the PA meeting by the mayor “reflected the opinion of the council”.

The councillors stressed that the mayor’s duty was “only to vote according to the wish of the council” and that had she voted differently, it would have been against the will of the council.

Muscat Fenech Adami has shunned calls by the party to resign as Naxxar mayor over an undeclared conflict of interest during a Planning Authority vote.

'We cannot have everything'

She voted in favour of a massive residential and commercial complex on the parking lot of the former Naxxar trade fair grounds despite the PN saying it instructed her to vote against the project. It later emerged that Muscat Fenech Adami is a company secretary in a firm partly owned by Edwin Mintoff, the project’s architect.

Muscat Fenech Adami, who sat on the PA board given the enormity of the proposal, noted that while the revised plans had taken on board many of its concerns, it still did not address its main one – the height of the development.

However, the mayor voted in favour of the project, noting that “we cannot have everything”. Earlier, she said the council was concerned there will be more traffic, especially in the village core, insisting that a traffic impact assessment should have been requested.

“I cannot vote on this application without knowing the consequences of what is being proposed,” she said, before proceeding to vote in favour. She later said that she had been given assurances that the council will be consulted on a traffic management plan for the zone.

The approved project will be split into two elliptical blocks - measuring eight and 10 floors high - and will include public open space in between the two towers.

It replaces an original proposal that featured five ‘bottle-like’ structures, submitted by a different applicant and which had been sent back to the drawing board last year.

A new owner then filed and obtained a permit last December for four basement levels for 346 parking spaces as well as 108 garages, a 700-square-metre gymnasium, a spa with an indoor pool covering an area of 355 square metres, a café, a restaurant, a bar, a 200-square-metre childcare centre and 12 shops.

The remaining floors would fit in a total of 136 residential units and penthouses. The new project dropped a proposed supermarket and office space that featured in the original application, replacing them with residential units and commercial outlets.

PN had demanded resignation

After it emerged that she could have possibly had a conflict of interest, the PN had demanded her resignation. She ignored these calls and the party proceeded to refer the case to its ethics and disciplinary committee.   

Muscat Fenech Adami defended her actions, denying any suggestion of a conflict of interest.

“I conscientiously believe, both on a personal and political level, I have acted with transparency and political ethics while, together with the councillors, I have sought the interests of the locality and our residents.

“Therefore, I am morally convinced that I must continue my work as mayor of Naxxar,” she wrote on social media in response to the PN’s call for her resignation.

Naxxar residents have meanwhile united with environmental NGOs to crowdfund an appeal against the development. The sum was collected, and an appeal is expected to be filed within the stipulated timeframe.