However, the façade has remained a reserved matter as four variations of the original design presented by the applicant’s representatives were not deemed satisfactory by the Planning Directorate or by the MEPA Board.

The MEPA Board, therefore, agreed with the Planning Directorate’s recommendation that the applicant must present satisfactory designs by the end of November.

No work beyond the demolition, excavation and laying of foundation shall commence before this and other reserved matters are resolved to the satisfaction of MEPA.

The proposed building is in a prominent location overlooking Msida Creek and Ta’ Xbiex Marina, with the Les Lapins Hotel on the left hand side and Whitehall Mansions on the right.

The two approved applications deal with stores 86 (PA 2545/04 – demolition of warehouse and construction of parking spaces, one shop, seven flats and one penthouse) and 88 to 91 (PA 3774/03 – demolition of four warehouses and construction of garages, shops, 20 flats on five overlying floors and four penthouses). The applications were presented by Architect Paul Camilleri on behalf of Malcolm Craig.

This façade will also cover the building that will be constructed instead of store 87, which is owned by a third party, after the developer told MEPA that he would accept the design approved for the other two applications.

It was MEPA which insisted on this because of the sensitivity of the location.

The pending application for the demolition of store 87 and construction of an apartment block with an underlying car park was presented by Architect William Soler on behalf of Britannia Properties Development.

MEPA chairman Andrew Calleja had described the original façade – with the building decorated a vivid blue and white with a thick blue cornice at the top – as “too massive”.

The main amendments presented last Thursday involved the removal of the massive parapet wall on the roof of the penthouse and the colour proposed for the elevations.

The introduction of a cornice on a level with that of the Whitehall Mansions’ cornice could be seen in two of the submitted examples.

“Although an attempt to improve the external appearance of the proposal is considered to have been made, the Planning Directorate still considers that further improvements can be achieved,” case officer Michelle Piccinino said.

The MEPA board also approved unanimously the construction of a government community home for the elderly at Mellieha (PA 3189/04). It will be built in front of the Mellieha Government Primary School, next to a public garden leading to Wied Ingraw.

It will have 120 beds in 108 rooms, a day centre, a chapel, a physiotherapy centre and other related facilities on four storeys.

A permit for a three-storey home for the elderly at the same site had already been approved by the MEPA board on 28 February 2003 (PA 5106/01), but an extra storey became necessary following the government’s revised policy on homes for the elderly.

The original permit consisted of a three-storey development comprising 48 double-bedded rooms plus a high dependency ward giving a total capacity of 120 beds. No single rooms were included.

In 2003, the then Ministry for Social Policy embarked on an exercise to prepare the groundwork for the drafting of new legislation governing retirement homes, both public and private.

During this exercise, it became evident that the tendency abroad is to provide single rooms wherever possible. It was therefore decided that the plans for the Mellieha Community Home would be revised to reflect this new reality.

The plans approved on Thursday retain approximately the same footprint approved in the original application and proposes a four-storey development comprising 96 single-bedded rooms and 12 double-bedded rooms, a total bed complement of 120 beds.

With this arrangement, 80 per cent of the beds are in single rooms.

The development involves the uprooting of 25 cypress trees from the adjacent public garden. According to the provisions of the Environmental Protection Act, the compensatory planting of 750 trees of indigenous species should be effected.

However, this provision was not requested by MEPA since the applicant is the government itself. Moreover, the proposal includes dense landscaping of the site and the adjoining public garden.

The permit was approved subject to the implementation and maintenance of the submitted landscaping scheme against a bank guarantee of Lm9,000 which goes down to Lm5,000 when the scheme is implemented in its entirety.

Moreover, before the work starts, the applicant must employ the services of independent consultants approved by MEPA to compile a baseline report on the ecological, hydrological and geological condition of the area in the vicinity of the development (ie. Wied Ingraw) to the satisfaction of the Authority as well as deposit a second bank guarantee of Lm15,000.

Following completion of works, further reports shall be submitted to MEPA for a period of five years.

Following a request by the Mellieha local council, the MEPA board decided that any soil and debris – especially rubble walls – removed during excavation works should be deposited at Ta’ Brag to be used as part of the council’s afforestation project there.

A third full development application for demolishing and re-building in a different layout the north wing of the Kempinski San Lawrenz Resort and Spa, extending the central and south wings of the same hotel and constructing a casino, was approved. Labour representative Dr Joe Brincat, however, voted against.

Dr Brincat said that since an enforcement notice had been issued on the site, the application could not be considered before the developer had complied with such enforcement notice.

On his part, the case officer noted that the enforcement notice had been issued on a gazebo in the area which is to be demolished. Therefore, since the application will include the demolition of that illegality, the developer is complying with the terms of the enforcement notice.

The approved application consists of the following:

• Demolition of the existing north wing of the hotel, which houses 30 suites.

• Construction of a new V-shaped wing running along the northern and western boundaries of the hotel site. This will consist of a total of 104 suites and six large suites.

• Construction of a new pool and pool deck fronting the new north wing

• Addition of two receded floors above the existing south wing of the hotel. This will consist of a total of 10 new rooms and 10 new suites.

• Addition of a floor above the main building. This will have two new suites and nine new rooms.

• Construction of a two-storey building with a casino overlying the existing spa of the resort. The developer said the company already has a letter of intent from the gaming board for a licence to open a casino at the site. The letter is valid for two years.

• Minor extension to the existing spa.

Thus the net increase in accommodation units will be 111, more than double the present number of rooms, thus making the project economically viable, the case officer’s report states.

An outline development application for the extension of the existing San Lawrenz Resort was approved by MEPA on 27 September 2001 (PA 5422/00), but the full development application presented some changes.

The MTA has already issued a Tourism Policy Compliance Certificate for the addition of 104 rooms (as originally envisaged in the outline permit) since the site is large enough to support a hotel with double the capacity of that existing.

The existing resort lies in a site measuring approximately 26,000 square metres known as Tal-Gidi, limits of San Lawrenz.

The site for the new north wing extension measures approximately 2,700 square metres and consists of agricultural land.

Moreover, the development has to be landscaped. The bank guarantee requested by MEPA to ensure the landscaping works ordered in the previous construction permit issued for the hotel (PA 5865/98) is also being extended to this permit.

Prior to the issue of the permit, the applicant shall contribute the sum of Lm10,000 towards MEPA’s Environment Initiatives in Partnership programme.

Following a request by the San Lawrenz local council, the MEPA board specified, in the permit issued by it, that this initiative should take place “in the general area of San Lawrenz” following consultation with the local council.

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