A five-storey retirement home in a protected ODZ valley went against the government’s pledge not to touch more protected land, campaigners said yesterday.
“We were told that after the university campus in Żonqor, building outside the development zone would stop, but it is becoming clear that this simply isn’t true,” said Anna Spiteri, a vociferous anti-ODZ-construction campaigner.
She was reacting to a report submitted to the planning authority which said there was no viable location for a retirement home within the development zone and that this would best be built in the protected valley between Sta Luċija and Luqa.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat last month pledged that no government projects would be carried out on land outside the development zone.
The proposed retirement home is a private investment, but it seeks to offer beds to the public through a public-private partnership.
The report, drafted by Adi Associates, an environmental and planning consultancy firm, gives no reasons why no viable sites were located within the development zone but insists that the protected valley is the best option for the 301-room retirement home.
“This really has to stop. It’s become a total free-for-all now. We’re either going to protect ODZ land or else ditch the idea entirely,” Ms Spiteri said.
This really has to stop. It’s become a total free-for-all now
Known as a project description statement, the report also says that it is unlikely that the proposed development will set a precedent for further construction in surrounding protected green spaces.
“There is always the potential in allowing development in ODZ to set a precedent for further development of other ODZ land, particularly of adjoining lands. In this case, the potential to set such a precedent is considered to be relatively low,” the report says.
It goes on to say that the location of the site relative to the development zone boundary establishes “a very defensible limit to the development zone”.
Catherine Polidano, who heads a group of concerned Sta Luċija residents opposed to the project, said this was wishful thinking.
Ms Polidano, who for the past decade has led the fight to save the valley from development, raised concerns that the development of such a large project would inevitably see a number of other projects approved there.
Besides being designated ODZ, the valley is known as a strategic open space gap, a green area which separates one locality from another.
Ms Polidano said developing the area would mean there would inevitably come a point when there was nothing dividing the two towns.
“We are just going to end up living in a giant sprawl of construction, not moving from one town to another, as every parcel of land will end up built upon,” she said.
Ms Polidano also questioned why experts had been appointed to designate areas as protected if this was simply going to be ignored by both the developers and the authorities.
According to the statement, the project’s “primary aim” is to supplement the existing healthcare industry on the island by redressing the national shortage of accommodation for the elderly.
The “high-end elderly residence” would add to the disproportionately low amount of such accommodation in the south. Less than 20 per cent of elderly residential homes are located in the south, the statement says.
The proposed development is spread over 4,472 square metres and includes a chapel, a cinema, administration rooms, a hall, a main kitchen and dining areas.
A coffee shop, a hairdresser, a beauty salon and a mortuary will also be developed, along with a linen store, a cleaners’ room, a garbage room and a switch room.