St Julian’s residents can breathe a sigh of relief after a developer dropped plans to build a nine-storey block of offices, shops and residences on a site designated as a public open space on the edge of the protected Wied Għomor valley.
The Planning Authority announced in an email sent to all objectors that the application had been withdrawn.
Land owner Carmelo Borg had submitted a "development control" application to change the zoning of the site and allow mixed-use development just outside the Regional Road tunnels.
He was proposing four floors of parking spaces at basement level, and offices, shops and residential development on top in two separate blocks. One of the levels would have included sports and community facilities and a pool.
The land has belonged to Borg's family for generations and part of it was expropriated in the 1960s for the construction of Regional Road.
In 2020, Borg entered into a promise-of-sale agreement with TUM Invest Limited, which had planned to build the multi-storey hotel. The plans fell through after a barrage of objections and after the company had a change of heart.
The 3,000-square-metre plot lies in the development zone. However, in the local plan it is not designated for development but as a public open space.
The environment watchdog, two local councils, NGOs and scores of residents had objected heavily to the proposal. They said the site, though within the development zone, was designated as a public open space in the local plan and ought to remain so.
Nationalist Party MP Albert Buttigieg had objected to the project when he was the locality’s major. In a post on Facebook, he questioned whether the PA was going to accommodate “another monstrosity”. “Will the government change the rules to please the developer? How revolting,” Buttigieg had said.
Even independent candidate Arnold Cassola sounded the victory trumpet on Facebook.
The application had attracted a considerable number of objections, mostly about concerns related to the lack of planning justifications for a change in zoning and a lack of justification for a drastic change in building height from an open space to a multi-storey building.
They pointed out that neighbouring areas are zoned as residential priority areas for detached and semi-detached dwellings.
The case officer had recommended the refusal of the application since it ran counter to a number of planning policies and would result in the intensification of density in the area, the loss of open space, and would have an adverse visual impact.