Garden of Eden: fate of illegal carpark linked to bungalows

The Planning Authority has accepted a request by Garden of Eden owner Maurizio Baldacchino’s architect to postpone a decision on the reinstatement of an illegal car park opposite the Garden of Eden wedding hall in Zurrieq, back to its original garigue state.

During a Planning Authority’s planning commission sitting on Monday, the architect requested the “suspension” of Baldacchino’s application to redress the long-standing illegality so that this is considered along a parallel application to demolish the existing wedding hall complex, and replace it with a tourist development consisting of 12 bungalows.

This decision contrasted with the insistence by both the Environment and Resources Authority and by the Planning Authority’s case officer that the two applications are decided separately and on their own merits, in a way that the removal of the car park illegality is taken before any decision on the tourist development.

ERA had insisted that the restoration of the site of this makeshift car park back to its pristine state, was a “prerequisite” for it to further consider the application for the construction of the 12 bungalows instead of the existing complex.

The ERA had insisted that the restoration of this site should be carried out “without further delay”.

The case officer also agreed, saying that the application to reinstate the site to its natural state is only aimed at addressing the existing situation on the site of the illegal car park; and that this has no bearing on the redevelopment of the wedding hall site.

But instead of approving the application to restore the car park area, the PA’s planning commission has decided to suspend the application for three months.

The car park had been subject to an enforcement order against the illegal levelling of the site since 1998. The ERA has already approved a method statement showing how the owners of the Garden of Eden intend restoring the site to its original state.

The ERA had insisted that all necessary measures are taken to avoid damage to the underlying bedrock; and that exposed bedrock is not covered with soil, with planting limited to native plants typical of garigue environments.

Originally, the area occupied by the car park had been earmarked for the development of a number of bungalows. But the application was dropped after ERA insisted on the reinstatement of the car park to its natural state.

Instead, Baldacchino recently applied for the demolition of the existing Garden of Eden wedding hall, to build 12 units of one-storey tourist accommodation, each with their own pool and terrace area.

The ERA has already exempted the project from the need of an environmental impact assessment, noting that most of the development will take place on already developed land, but asked for the presentation of photomontages showing how the project will impact on coastal views.

An assessment on how the bungalows will impact on the surrounding Natura 2000 site is ongoing.

While the illegality of the carpark is undisputed, the legality of the wedding hall complex itself was confirmed in a letter sent to the owners by former PA Executive Chairman Johann Buttigieg, which certified the legality of the site.

In his letter, Buttigieg states that following verifications of court procedures and legal advice, “the authority cannot state that the premises in question are illegal or that illegalities exist on site.”  In reality in 1990, a police license for the nightclub was withdrawn in view of “unauthorized structures” consisting of “rooms roofed with a wooden ceiling” which had been erected in the area.

But in October 1990, Joseph Baldacchino was found not guilty of building without a permit since he was in possession of a police license for a disco. The police and Attorney General appealed this decision, arguing that the ‘no objection’ of the Works Department to the disco license did not amount to a permit for the illegal structures.

But the appeal was erroneously filed against a certain Joseph Polidano, instead of Joseph Baldacchino. The error was rectified four days later. But Baldacchino contested this, arguing that this went beyond the four days the police had to file the appeal; apart from arguing that they had no grounds to appeal the sentence. The Attorney General later withdrew the appeal. Yet with the exception of the police trading license, no planning permits can be actually traced for the present complex.