Planning Authority tribunal revokes Joseph Portelli’s Balzan permit

The Environment and Planning Review Tribunal has revoked a permit for an 88-unit complex, gym and 2,408sq.m of retail shops instead of the abandoned Dolphin Centre in Balzan.

The project was proposed by Clifton Attard, a business partner of construction magnate Joseph Portelli.  The ‘Park Lane’ apartments were already being sold by Portelli before an application was even presented.

The project whose architect was former Building and Construction Authority chairman Maria Schembri Grima, was approved by the Planning Authority in September 2022 despite strong objections by residents who cited various policy breaches.  

Residents also lamented the salami-slicing of the application due to a parallel application for another 11 apartments on a nearby site which was approved in December.

The development was to consist nine shops at ground floor level, four floors of residences, and an overlying receded floor level.

The objectors described the project as an exercise in “fitting as many residential units as possible” in a sensitive area next to Balzan’s Urban Conservation Area, and questioned whether the project is in line with various planning policies including those regulating heights.

They insisted that planning policies restrict heights in the area to four levels, but the Planning Authority rebutted that this translates to a metric height of 16.3 metres and that adequate measures were taken to step down the development from the Urban Conservation Area.

The decision was subsequently appealed by NGOs Din l-Art Ħelwa, Flimkien Għall-Ambjent Aħjar, the Balzan local council and a number of residents.

In their appeal, the NGOs claimed that the development posed a threat to the two large and robust trees stretch from the façade of the Dolphin Centre.

They also referred to a historical wall and nymphaeum, which formed part of the grounds of the original Villa Birbal – illegally demolished in 1987 - which were omitted from plans. Also omitted from plans is the presence of a large well, also part of the gardens of the former Villa Birbal.

In its decision, the Tribunal chaired by Robert Sarsero, revoked the Planning Commission’s decision. The developers will not have to present a new application but the Planning Authority will have to reassess the project through a new case officer report with the planning process being reversed back to that stage.

Moreover, the Tribunal has also limited the number of floors which can be approved on the site to three full floors and one receded floor instead of the four full floors and one receded floor which was approved.

The Tribunal also sets clear parameters for the redevelopment of the site limiting the total height of the proposed building to 15.4 meters and that of the facade to 12.9 meters. 

Moreover, an adequate transition has to be created on the adjacent developments in Triq il-Kbira.

The Tribunal also asked for a clear indication in submitted plans of the historical nymphaeum and garden walls and the two mature ficus trees. Moreover, the nymphaeum whose existence was not even acknowledged in the plans, is to be integrated in the proposed development.

The tribunal also asked for revised transport studies and flood management plans.