Planning Authority changes tack on Kalkara apartment project

The Planning Authority has dropped plans to use the summary procedure to renew a permit for the construction of 88 apartments on 6,200sq.m of green open space in Kalkara.

The PA has decided to assess the permit through a full application process.

This means that the case officer will now have to assess whether the application originally approved in 2012 conforms to the Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development (SPED) which came in place in 2015.

Had the application been renewed through the summary procedure, no case officer report would have been required.

The SPED refers to the need to “protect green open spaces which contribute towards the character and amenity of urban areas” through the “reduction of soil sealing and (by) supporting bio diversity.”

It also refers to the need of “ecological corridors” in urban areas.  It also states that development in “historical sites is carried out in a manner so to ensure that the skyline is not adversely effected.”

MaltaToday reported last month that the Planning Authority was set to renew a permit set to expire in January 2023, through the short procedure. The application was recommended for approval in the absence of a case officer’s report.

A PA spokesperson had confirmed “that since the application is being assessed through the summary process, no case officer report is being prepared”.

But a PA spokesperson has now confirmed that the renewal application will be processed through the full process which requires a case officer report.

The decision to revert the application to the full process was taken on 30 September a few days after the publication of the MaltaToday story.

Renewal applications are listed in planning law among the kinds of developments which can be exempted from the full application process.

Apart from renewal applications, these include minor applications like swimming pools and blocks of less than 16 apartments located within the development zone and outside the urban conservation area.

By law ‘summary’ applications are decided within 42 days, and are determined by the chairperson of the Planning Board or his delegate, within six weeks from the publication of the application instead of 12 weeks as required in normal applications.

In this case, developer Lawrence Fino chose to file the application through the summary process after withdrawing a previous application submitted in May requiring the full process.

Yet, even when a developer files an application under the summary procedure, the PA can still choose to apply the full procedure. By law this is done when representations are received within the consultation period and the chairperson of the Planning Board or his delegate deems such representations carry planning merits.

In this case 11 objections were filed by a number of residents, including Moviment Graffitti, reporting the loss of a massive open space which includes old carob and pomegranate trees.

The land in question was controversially included in development zones in 2002 despite protests by residents. Fino’s application was approved in 2012 despite opposition by the local council, and renewed through the full application process in 2017. This permit is set to expire in January 2023.

In 2017 the application was renewed with the condition that neighbouring properties are surveyed before commencement of works, since several safety issues were raised with regards to excavation works because of the alleged presence of wells, hallows, and caves in the area. The condition will still stand if the permit is renewed.  Moreover, the Planning Authority can also impose additional conditions.

In the absence of changes to policy and local plans or the issue of conservation orders, renewal permits are normally approved but there have been cases where these were not granted.

One notable case involved the PA’s refusal of the renewal of a permit issued in 2011 for a new cemetery in Pembroke which was still turned down because a new policy introduced in 2014 banned the development of new cemeteries.