The Planning Authority Board is today set to be decide on the db group’s ITS site development application.

The Case Officer who was processing the highly controversial proposed City Centre development application on the former ITS site has recommended that the project be approved.

The project has seen Pembroke residents, as well as environmentalists up in arms. Around 4,000 objections to this application had been received.

The development application consists of three main parts: a hotel with ancillary tourist related amenities, a residential tall building and retail and entertainment areas. The case officer's report reads that "the applicant was recognised as the preferred bidder to develop the site and entered onto a deed of temporary emphyteusis of 99 years for the design, build and operation of a tourism and leisure development.”

Recently, Opposition Leader Adrian Delia has declared that he is against the project, stating that it does not adhere to policy. Last May, he had said that he would have supported the project if it followed planning rules.  He also indicated that the PN representative on the board, Marthese Portelli, will be voting against the project.

Pembroke mayor Dean Hili, who is the local council’s representative on the Planning Authority Board for the db Group’s ITS site proposal, has already said that he will be voting against the proposal. Hili said that the project’s design is incongruent from the surrounding area, highlighting that the residential buildings around are no higher than two storeys from street level. He said that the proposal jars. In a separate instance, the Guardian of Future Generations said that it expressed its unfavourable opinion on the City Centre proposal.

The case officer's report reads that the development proposes an overall gross floor area of 109,919 square meters set into the following main components:  An 18 storey (73 metres high) hotel with an overall area of 51,417 sqm;  A 38 storey (140.87 metres high) tall building with 1,090 sqm retail area and 32,713 sqm residential area;  A shopping mall with an 18,753 sqm commercial area;  Offices with an area of 3,232 sqm; And an entertainment areas covering 3,604 sqm.

The project proposal has been modified a number of times since its announcement. "According to a statement by the Environment Impact Assessment's co-ordinator, the changes in the revised drawings consisted in reducing the hotel's building envelope by 16% and the number of rooms from 464 to 438. Around 4500 square metres were reduced from the hotel's original design as was a floor proposed as a rooftop wedding hall. The overall height of the proposed tall building was reduced by 8 metres," the case officer's report reads.

On Tuesday, three local councils and twelve non-governmental organisations spoke out against the proposed development, saying that the Planning Authority should refuse the proposal in "no uncertain terms" due to the long list of harmful consequences that it would bring.

A number of reasons for the 4,500 objections filed during the planning stage, include the potential negative impacts to the underlying Ghar Harq Hamiem, complaints about an insufficient amount open spaces, fragmented development as a result of lack of a comprehensive master plan for the area as well as a pending investigation on the transfer of the site covered by the application. Other arguments also include the potential detrimental visual impact, alleged misuse of the hotel height limitation adjustment policy, the traffic impact of the project, the increased pollution as a result of the project, the proximity of high rise development to residential areas, and many others.

The Case Officer's report had also read that the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage noted that the development as proposed will have an impact on recorded cultural heritage assets, including a  military barracks currently scheduled at Grade 2 and the Harq Hamiem cave, a geological feature scheduled at Level 1. The Superintendence had made a number of requests including for a survey of the cave. "During the course of the pre-validation process, the architect submitted a heritage report  and a method statement. Following the review of this documents, the Superintendence did not object to the interventions proposed subject to a number of conditions.

The Swieqi and St Julian’s local councils are also against the project.

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