First of all, it was almost full house, with 10 members present, only one absent (Roderick Galdes, MP). The number will be further augmented with the presence of the two chairpersons of what used to be called DCC.
Secondly, yesterday’s session was characterised by far more active participation by almost all the members, both old and new. Some members who formed part of the outgoing board and who rarely voiced their opinion yesterday spoke and participated.
Perhaps intentionally, to give the new members a running-in to the complex problems that arise, yesterday the board had only one application to discuss but it took all the time, from 10am to noon. Or perhaps that was because of complications inherent in the application.
The application, which had been five years in the pipeline, concerned the demolition of the Buskett Forest restaurant and hotel and the rebuilding in the form of a new and ecological apart-hotel.
The site is just outside the Natura 2000 boundary which encloses the whole Buskett and more land besides, but which ends on the other side of the parking lot.
One reason why the application had been in the pipeline for five years was because of multiple changes that were forced upon the developers by Mepa.
The site has been in the hands of the same family for 30 years. Aerial photos show there were just fields both in 1957 and 1967, while by 1978 the site had begun to be developed, first as a winery, than as a small bar and restaurant to which an apart-hotel was later added.
The building itself is of an ‘ugly 1970s style’ with no special characteristics to retain. The building has now been closed for some three years as it was not felt to be profitable.
Therefore, Mepa ruled out that any development of the site must respect the building volume and area and no more. That ruled out an extension on the swimming pool side as well as any extension regarding a field which is the result of silt being deposited in what used to be the valley.
Presenting the application, architect Stephen Farrugia said one could make an argument for the reopening of the watercourse so that the usual flooding whenever it rains is eliminated and the water would be allowed to go down the valley.
The concept of the new apart-hotel will be “like the Danish village”, Mr Farrugia said, with the big monolithic block there is today being substituted by four blocks of unequal size with open spaces in between.
Mr Farrugia, who was formerly a top Mepa official, disagreed with Mepa’s opposition to the splitting up of the big block and pointed out the Interpretation Centre at Hagar Qim in comparison. Mepa was also rather negative about big open windows and he showed some impressive contemporary buildings in similar surroundings from countries abroad.
The case officer of the application explained that only the main building was found to be covered by a valid development permit so any new development had to fit in the footprint of that.
The present building’s volume would fit a renewed four-block building with 58 rooms at a four-star level.
AD and Nature Trust had registered objections against the proposed development but none of their representatives attended the sitting yesterday.
While the Mepa directorate proposed the application be accepted, two last-minute developments threatened to block the process. The applicant objected to a last-minute change in the title which removed the word ‘multi-ownership’. Mepa wanted to remove this to eliminate the possibility that the hotel might in future be closed down and turned into apartments. Secondly, a public deed had to be entered into. The applicant argued that given today’s fluid situation in tourism, he might turn the hotel into timeshare apartments. A compromise was at the end reached in that while timeshare is accepted to be part of the tourism landscape, the permit would insist at full development application stage (since this was just the outline) that the property was to remain as one property and that, anyway, any change of use of the property will have to be applied for at Mepa.