Mark Agius, a business partner of Gozitan property magnate Joseph Portelli, has filed an application to build another block of apartments in the same street where the Planning Authority recently approved a mega-development for the same developer.
The application, PA/01703/22, is split over two areas on Triq il-Pinnur, Triq Ta' Bebunaq and Triq il-Paranji in Sannat, Gozo.
The first concerns an empty plot of land where Agius is proposing two basement levels for garages, five maisonettes at ground floor level and a further 15 apartments over the next three floors, with a fourth receded floor having an additional four apartments.
The other part of the development is planned in the air space of an already existing block of flats on an adjacent plot, which the application is proposing to extend by an additional full floor and a receded floor.
The application, which was filed on January 31, has yet to receive a formal recommendation from the PA’s case officer.
Enemalta has specified that the development will require the integration of a substation to ensure adequate electricity supply.
The site of the proposed development falls on the same street where a trio of applications by Portelli, Agius and Daniel Refalo make up a mega-development of 125 apartments some 300 metres away from the Ta’ Ċenċ cliffs and a Natura 2000 site which is a designated Special Area of Conservation and a Special Protected Area.
The last and largest of these three applications was approved earlier this month in a fiery PA sitting that sparked outrage among objectors.
Critics of the project have said that “salami-slicing” the development into three separate applications is an ongoing attempt by the developers to avoid having to undergo more intense scrutiny typically required of a larger development, such as an environmental impact assessment.
Heritage NGO Din l-Art Ħelwa has appealed the first two applications, however, the Planning Tribunal ruled that works would be allowed to begin onsite despite one of the grounds for appeal being the loss of soil and agricultural land.
Moviment Graffitti, who has also opposed the Sannat developments, is currently crowdfunding to mount an appeal against the granting of the third permit.
“The PA’s approval of this development was a scandal involving multiple irregularities. The development was illegally split into three separate applications to evade mandatory studies and a holistic assessment,” they said.
“Then, the third and largest of these three applications was approved by a Planning Commission that went against the case officer’s advice of refusal and inexplicably threw the application into the lap of Martin Saliba’s Executive Council.”
“Concurrently, illegal works took place from the site of the project to the edge of the cliffs, with very worrying effects on both the natural environment as well as public access to Ta’ Ċenċ.”