The height of an elderly home which is being proposed on Outside Development Zone land in Naxxar has been reduced as the project application goes before the Planning Authority’s Board again on Thursday.

PA Board members had deferred a decision on the proposed home on 16 November on the basis that it was too large for the area, noting that a one-storey farm was planned to be replaced by a three-storey structure.

The board requested the removal of services from the roof and the overall reduction in the height of each storey.

New documents filed with the Planning Authority by the project’s architect Samuel Formosa on behalf of the developer – who is the Labour Party minority leader of the Naxxar local council Marlon Brincat – show that while the home remains three-storeys high, the overall height has been reduced.

An update to the Case Officer’s report indicates that the height of the project has been reduced from 11.3 metres to 9.7 metres, and that new drawings had also shown that the services had been removed from the roof as per the request of the PA’s Board.

The Case Officer had already recommended the project for approval in its first iteration, and following the updates noted that the decision was now up to the PA’s Board for consideration.

The site, previously known as Summiena Farm, is located on Sqaq l-Imnieqa, Naxxar, less than 100m away from the Gharghur Semaphore tower.

The site is also located just a road away from another home for the elderly that had been built on ODZ land.

The application proposes the demolition of a one-storey building and the construction of a facility for the care of the elderly and nursing home made up of 60 beds spread across 47 rooms split over three levels above ground.

A number of objections to the proposal had been received, including by the Naxxar local council and various NGOs over the years.