The fate of the Windsor Terrace streetscape in Sliema is on hold for another month until the applicant submits fresh plans for a five-floor apartment block in the middle of a row of traditional, two-storey townhouses.
The Malta Environment and Planning Authority board yesterday postponed the decision on the full development permit to transform 75 Windsor Terrace into flats, primarily because a proposed garage would have breached the condition to retain the original façade in its entirety.
The applicant's fresh plans would not necessarily mark the go-ahead of the development as other streetscape issues such as the height of the building remain pending.
In fact, the height is a major sticking point, as it conflicts with the local plan, which says that buildings in the area cannot exceed two floors. But the developers are levering on the fact that the outline development permit for their project was granted in July 2006, just before that plan came into force.
Before the local plan there were no set limits and the height limitations were established only on the area's predominant streetscape.
Nonetheless, the environment NGO Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar is fighting back on the basis that the building is located in the Sliema urban conservation area, insisting that the outline development permit was issued under "extremely irregular circumstances".
Its spokesman, Astrid Vella, yesterday pointed out that a list of regulations had been broken in the approval of this permit and stressed that the local plan only allows for two storeys in the area.
She appealed to the authority's board to challenge the permit and operate with transparency and consistency, continuing to earn public respect by admitting to past mistakes and rectifying them.
The Superintendent of Cultural Heritage, Anthony Pace, also wrote to the authority's chairman, saying he was against the development, which would compromise the streetscape.
The early 20th-century townhouse is of "traditional character" and "cultural heritage value", he said in the letter.
The applicants defended their project on the grounds that other developments of five floors had been approved in the neighbouring streets of Don Rua, Dingli and Sir Arturo Mercieca at the same time and under the same conditions as Windsor Terrace, which should, therefore, not be judged differently.
But Ms Vella objected to the "precedent argument", stressing that it did not exist in planning regulations. "Mistakes and inadequate parallels should not influence decisions," Ms Vella insisted.
The issue of 75 Windsor Terrace dates back to November 2004, when the first outline application was submitted and later refused. A second application was approved in July 2006, overturning a recommendation for refusal. The full development permit has also been recommended for refusal and additional points were discussed yesterday.