Żejtun council objects to Portelli development

The Żejtun local council is objecting to the development of 80 apartments instead of four dwellings and adjacent farmland along Triq Hector Dalli in the locality.

The proposed developed will rise to five storeys and the Żejtun council is claiming it will result in increased density and traffic and would negatively impact on the townscape.

The property in question is located 330m from the St Catherine’s parish church and 70m from the locality’s urban conservation area.

This development proposed by J. Portelli Projects Ltd, a company belonging to construction magnate Joseph Portelli, will see the demolition of four houses and the construction of 1,340sq.m of green space enclosed within the surrounding residential properties. The latter also includes a large old cistern which will be destroyed.

According to the council the well still provides water to several residents living in old houses along Triq Santa Katarina.

The proposed development includes 44 garages at basement level, five garages and two shops at ground floor level, and 68 apartments on the overlying four floors and penthouses with pool on a receded level.

The council warned the development will result in the destruction of an “urban lung” consisting of agricultural land which is still being tilled and its replacement with an apartment block which would increase the density of the area.

The council is concerned the new block would have a negative visual impact on the old traditional townhouses fronting Triq Santa Katarina and warned the development would result in “over-population and an increase in traffic”.

If approved, the proposal will also lead to a significant visual impact on the townscape of Żejtun. The area is distantly viewed from Tal-Barrani Road and Vjal il-25 ta’ Novembru and when viewed from Triq San Annard, it lies on the foreground of St Catherine’s Parish Church, thus presenting a 65m long, three storey blank wall along the north-west side.

According to the council the development will also impact on the skyline which is presently dominated by the parish church which stands as the highest building when one enters the town from Tarxien.

“This view is an integral part of the skyline and the identity of every Zejtun resident who feel a sense of pride when approaching the town.”

Moreover, the development will create a blank party wall of three floors on adjacent buildings.

NGO Wirt iż-Żejtun which is also objecting to the development has also warned that the proposal, if approved would radically increase the population density in this area, which till now is considered as a quiet residential area, on the periphery of the Żejtun Urban Conservation Area.

The organisation claims that the population density for this development, considering a minimum of three person per unit, will reach 113,200 people per square kilometre.