The Planning Authority has approved the development of a home for the elderly on ODZ land in Naxxar after the applicant reduced the height of the building by 1.6 metres.
The project, proposed by Naxxar Labour councillor and minority leader Mario Brincat, presented revised drawings that reduced the overall height to 9.7 metres from the original 11.3 metres, also removing all services from the roof.
Last month, the Planning Authority postponed the decision on the application, sending the applicant back to the drawing board to reduce the overall height and massing of the proposal.
PA board members found that the proposed home for the elderly was too large for the area, noting that a one-storey farm being proposed for demolition, was being replaced by a three-storey home for the elderly with 47 rooms between Naxxar and Għargħur.
Brincat is a shareholder and co-founder of CE Installations, a local construction firm.
When the application was back on the board’s agenda, only Naxxar mayor Anne Marie Muscat Fenech Adami voted against it, insisting that although the council was in favour of homes for the elderly, these should not be in an ODZ area.
The proposal was approved despite objections by the Environmental and Resource Authority, which described the development as “unacceptable”.
“While the site is already occupied by a disused farm and is not located within a virgin rural area, the massing of the proposal is considered visually intrusive and will dominate an area located at the rural/urban interface with little scope of mitigation through landscaping,” ERA said.
“ERA considers that the current proposal is unacceptable from an environmental point of view,” it said. This type of development can easily be accommodated in the urban area, the environmental authority added.
Environmental groups, including Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, Din L-Art Ħelwa, Ramblers Association, and Nature Trust Malta, also voiced their opposition.
They told the board that the height reduction was minimal and did not change much from the visual impact the development would have on the surroundings.
Architect Samuel Formosa insisted that the footprint of the proposed old people’s home was smaller than the footprint presently occupied by the disused farm.
Apart from recommending the project for approval, the case officer recommended a €62,000 planning gain as well as a €6,400 bank guarantee covering the proposed landscaping.
He also proposed a public deed through which the developer will be committed to use the building only as a nursing home.
The project was approved with six votes in favour and one against.