An illegally built petrol station, which was ordered to close twice due to flagrant development illegalities, is now in operation after the planning authority changed its policy and granted the owner three-year “temporary clearance”.
Located on the outskirts of Qormi, the J. Gaffarena Service station was sealed off by Mepa officials in 2008 when the developer went beyond the approved planning permission obtained two years previously for the construction of a petrol station.
After defying an enforcement order by the authority and opening for business, Mepa officials returned to the site in September 2009, sealing off its entrance and once again closing down the petrol station.
However, with the enforcement notice still in place for various illegal structures – including an extra top floor – the petrol station this week reopened after Mepa granted “temporary clearance” for 36 months.
The illegal structures include the construction of a first floor above the height permitted for the petrol station; increasing the building’s footprint; constructing structures near the relocated car wash; an underlying basement; and the reduction of an underground water reservoir. Mepa this week confirmed that all these illegally built structures remained in place.
Asked why it had this sudden change of heart, a Mepa spokesman said that after fresh provisions were drawn up last August a temporary permit had been issued enabling the operation of parts of the petrol station, including the sale of fuel.
According to Mepa, these new provisions were issued for projects, which contained infringements within the same permitted development.
These provisions “included criteria to be satisfied so that a ‘temporary clearance’ can be issued for the provision of services to enable parts of that development, which are according to the permit to operate”.
When applied to the Gaffarena service station, these new provisions mean “the fuel pumps, the car wash and the open part of the building” can operate.
When contacted, station owner Joseph Gaffarena insisted half the station had a permit and although the other half did not he had always been assured by the previous administration that the permit would be forthcoming, but this never came.
“My eight children have been suffering hardship for five years, poor things. Thank God this week we’re back in action,” he said.
Asked why he had forged ahead and built illegally, he replied: “Nobody stopped us at the time, and when we were eventually stopped from operating we immediately obeyed.
“Finally, we’ve been given temporary clearance and my family can subsist on the station.”
Mr Gaffarena denied being given any preferential treatment and pointed to numerous illegal developments that had been sanctioned in the past.
“We have a right to this. Once the 36 months are up I’m hoping we get the permit, like everyone else.
“There are those who built five storeys illegally, so why not us?”
Mepa confirmed that the original enforcement notice against the petrol station remained in place despite the temporary clearance.
This included other provisions such as “sealing off the parts, which are not according to permit, and a legal agreement accompanied by a bank guarantee made to Mepa giving the developer three years to sanction the parts not according to permit”.
The bank guarantee requested is €500,000.
The applicant had already tried to regularise the station’s illegal extension but was turned down twice by Mepa, including at appeals stage, in 2011.
In a press release Mepa issued in 2011, it had prided itself for the board decision to turn down the sanctioning of the illegal development saying: “The authority continued to show its consistent stance that outside development zones will be protected from any illegal or proposed development that fall short of its policies”.
Additional reporting Ariadne Massa