The Planning Commission on Friday unanimously rejected a recommendation to approve the conversion of two Wied Għomor villas into a hotel.
The commission unanimously ruled that the change of use runs counter to ODZ policies which only allow projects that give a wider environmental benefit to the area.
Since the application was recommended for approval by the Development Management Directorate and the members were intending to overturn it, the case was deferred by four weeks and sent back to the directorate.
The application concerns the conversion of two villas in the protected St Julian’s valley, into a hotel. The directorate had recommended its approval after a similar bid for the same buildings mysteriously disappeared in 2019 when Planning Authority board members indicated they would reject it, primarily due to the fact that it was being illegally used as a guesthouse.
The Valley guesthouse had been accepting bookings without a permit. It even had a website and a booking system and featured on popular booking websites such as Booking.com.
On the basis on this illegal use, the PA board had indicated it would refuse the permit. But the applicant, Karl Camilleri, withdrew it in September 2019.
The application was resurrected last April, when Camilleri once again applied for the two dwellings to be transformed into an 11-room guesthouse plus a two-bedroom guest apartment.
The two residential villas, both with swimming pools, were approved by successive permits in 2017 and 2018.
St Julian’s mayor Albert Buttigieg and Swieqi local council representative Anton Valentino insisted that the change of use from residential into commercial was precluded at law and that the only planning policies governing such changes did not allow commercial operations in ODZ areas.
Buttigieg further stressed that such a project would continue the commercialisation of the locality and quoted an objection by the Environment and Resources Authority which spoke about the cumulative environmental impact of the application.
He said it was a pity that PA case officers were seeing such applications in isolation without looking at the broader picture and the effect that such projects were having on the environment, especially in a protected valley.
Buttigieg spoke about the “miraculous development” of two dilapidated rooms into two villas with swimming pools, despite their ODZ location. The owner now wanted to turn them into a touristic operation, he said.
The mayor added that this application could set a precedent as there were other dilapidated structures in the valley.
Valentino dismissed as “a joke” the fact that the Malta Tourism Authority had given its blessing because it was “a good touristic opportunity”.
“Even a hotel on Filfla is a good touristic opportunity,” he quipped.
Commission chairman Martin Camilleri meanwhile noted ERA’s objection and considered also that the proposed change of use would lead to further traffic in the area, including a shortfall of parking within a protected valley.
“The proposal does not conform with the [PA] policies in that it would not result in a wider environmental benefit for the area,” he said as he deferred the case for a month.