A planning application to redevelop the existing Naxxar trade fair grounds car park into two medium-raise mixed use buildings was approved by the PA board on Thursday.
The proposed development will include two separate buildings, one of 9 floors and a receded floor and another of 7 floors and a receded floor. The proposal includes the excavation of four basement levels including 356 parking spaces, 108 garages, a gym, spa with indoor pool and other related facilities. The proposal also includes a bar, childcare centre, shops and overlying 136 residential units.
In 2018 an application on the same site had been filed for a similar development with a different design, however it had been withdrawn by the applicant.
The existing site consists of a parking area which was previously used by the former Naxxar fair and, as per an approved Planning Control application, will be surrounded by Triq il-Markiz Giuseppe Scicluna and other three new streets. The site in question is 39 meters in linear distance from the Urban Conservation Area of Naxxar and the wider site context is characterized by a mixture of uses include agricultural, commercial, and residential with a recently approved building facing the southern part of the site, which links this new neighbourhood with the Urban Conservation area, the case officer's report reads.
The board approved the project despite concerns about the project's heigh, given that it is just 35m away from the Urban Conservation Area of Naxxar. The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage had highlighted this very issue.
A social impact study found that there will be adverse effects on residents in Naxxar and San Pawl Tat-Tarġa. The Naxxar Mayor, Anne Marie Muscat Fenech Adami, voted in favour of the development. She justified her decision to vote in favour by arguing that it does not go against the planning policies.
She was also in agreement with the developers that the alternative would be a conventional development without open spaces. The current project will include public open space.