Updated at 5.45pm

The Planning Authority has approved a controversial elderly residence outside development zone in the limits of Naxxar, citing “financial feasibility” to reject two alternative sites within development boundaries.

The project will see the construction of a three-storey, 234-bed facility on a 4,748 square metre ODZ site on Għargħur Road, close to the telecommunications station.

It was approved today by 10 votes in favour and three against, with Environment and Resources Authority chairman Victor Axiak, NGO representative Annick Bonello and Naxxar mayor Anne Marie Muscat Fenech Adami opposing.

The ERA had objected to the proposal, citing the impacts of further urban development in ODZ areas. The authority also raised concerns over the “visually intrusive” massing as well as noise and dust during construction.

The environmental impact assessment found that the development would have a “moderate to major” visual impact from several close viewpoints, among other concerns.

The approved building height is slightly lower than that originally proposed, altered in response to the ERA’s concerns.

Architect Carmel Cacopardo, representing residents, said during today’s hearing that the site selection exercise, on which the proposal hinged, had identified two larger vacant plots within the Naxxar urban zone as having “very good” potential for the development.

These sites were rejected on the basis of a financial feasibility study, which was not made public, and developers turned their attention to the ODZ site, already the subject of a failed application for a similar development.

“The ‘financial feasibility’ is that the land outside the building scheme is cheaper,” Mr Cacopardo said today.

“The site selection exercise clearly shows that the desired function can be accommodated within scheme. The authority is making a mistake in placing financial feasibility ahead of the sustainability of the project. You have the entire community on one side of the scales, and a single applicant on the other.”

Project architect Colin Zammit insisted the chosen site was the only viable one and that projects of this nature were more suited to village fringes than the core.

“There is ODZ and there is ODZ,” he said, referring to the fact that the site has been characterised as “disturbed land”.

Naxxar is already home to three other similar facilities: the Hilltop Gardens Retirement Village, the Simblija Care Home and the Holy Family Home for the Elderly.

The area is designated by the local plan as a “strategic open gap” where no urban development is allowed “except for essential small scale utility infrastructure”.

The Naxxar and Għargħur local councils, environmental organisations and residents’ groups all opposed the development, with Din l-Art Ħelwa warning that the project would create a precedent and slowly diminish the size of the strategic gap.

The PA board agreed to impose a planning gain of €50,000, almost double the €28,000 that had been recommended by the planning directorate. 

 

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