FAA objects to St Julian’s development, says conditions not being met

Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar (FAA) has objected to the new plans for an application (PA/04037/19) on Telghet Birkirkara and Triq Sant’ Elija, St Julian’s, as it says that the conditions imposed on the developers are not being met.

This project, FAA said, proposes to partially demolish the oldest house in St Julian’s, which dates back to 1688, the same year that Spinola Palace was built.

While it acknowledges that the new plans are an improvement on the original intensive development, FAA maintained that the proposed developments on four storeys “do not reflect the speculators’ claim of a ‘villa development’.” The inclusion of one and two additional storeys of basement ‘storage’ areas makes the possibility of division of the villas into apartments even more likely, the NGO said.

FAA reminded the Planning Authority that its Local Plan imposes these conditions for this site: i. The development includes a pedestrian access leading onto Triq Birkirkara; ii. The building height limitation for frontages on Triq Sant’ Elija’ is 3 floors. New development in the rear parts of the site that adjoin properties that have their frontage on Telghet Birkirkara are not to exceed a building height limitation of 3 floors measured from the level of Birkirkara Hill; iii. The character and appearance of the development is compatible with the surrounding urban environment.

“These are reflected in the EPRT appeal decision which stipulated that the buildings are to be stepped back on Triq Sant’ Elija to avoid a massive building dominating the Urban Conservation Area.”

FAA said that these conditions are not yet being met. It said that on Birkirkara Hill the building rises to five floors and on Triq Sant’ Elija the building is not fully set back.

“The plans presented are not adequate to fully assess the project including the important aspect of an access path between the two streets.” FAA said that it backs Transport Malta’s statement that the project requires a Traffic Study, “especially in the light of the traffic to be generated by the massive home for the elderly up Birkirkara Hill.”

For these reasons, FAA calls for the Planning Control application to be changed to include, besides the alignment: the maximum heights, including requirements for receding and the density of the development, including the Gross Floor area of some 300 sqm excluding gardens and underground garages.

Above all, FAA calls for the old house on Birkirkara Hill to be scheduled. FAA highlights that no conservation plan or photomontage has been presented as per PA requirements.

Previously the developers had proposed incorporating the garage entry/exit under the left terrace, however this part of the old structure no longer figures in their plans, FAA said. “The oldest surviving house in St Julian’s, dating back to 1688, cannot be dismembered simply to fit in with speculators’ plans.”

FAA strongly condemns the fact that the Planning Authority allows submission of wholesale new plans for a major project that has drawn hundreds of objections during the holiday period. “This devious device which developers have resorted to for years in order to evade scrutiny, has been highlighted by FAA for years and must stop.”