Studio apartments proposed next to mosque

Silvan Mizzi, a partner of construction mogul Joseph Portelli, has submitted plans for a four-storey block consisting mostly of studio apartments, adjacent to the Paola mosque.

Planning policies normally limit the proportion of single-bedroom apartments to 20% of the total number of apartments. However, the area is zoned as a Student Priority Area due to its proximity to MCAST thus allowing for smaller one-bedroomed apartments.

The site earmarked for development of a four-storey block consisting mostly of studio apartments, adjacent to the Paola mosque

The Development Control Design Policy approved in 2015 designates properties located in a 350m radius around the entire external perimeter of the University of Malta, the Junior College, Mater Dei hospital, Gozo general hospital and the MCAST campuses in Paola and Mosta as Student Priority areas.

The new development will cater for the increased demand for smaller and cheaper apartments aimed for single people. The latest census shows that 70,000 people of which 63% are Maltese, are already living in single-person households.

But the designation of a large area in Paola for the development of single bedroom apartments has raised concerns that increased density will add further pressures on the locality’s infrastructure.

In the application Mizzi is proposing to excavate a site in Triq il-Perit Dom Mintoff, corner with Triq Bormla and is proposing parking spaces at basement level, two food outlets and five garages at road level, a maisonette at ground floor level and 26 one-bedroomed apartments at the first, second and third floors. 20 parking spaces are being proposed in a basement parking and at ground floor level.

According to the plans, most of the proposed apartments are studio apartments, with the kitchen, living, dining and bedroom all in the same room. Only a few have a separate bedroom. The apartments have an internal area of between 50sq.m and 63sq.m and an external terrace of between 5sq.m and 43sq.m.

One of the proposed shops is class 4C, which includes food and drink establishments where cooking is not allowed on site. The other shop is for a catering establishment which falls under Class 4D, offering hot or cold food and drinks for consumption on the premises where cooking is allowed.

Mizzi declared he is the owner of the 620sq.m site that lies within the development zone.

The Paola site is close to where the Planning Authority last year approved a 17-apartment development in Triq Bormla and Triq Qalb ta’ Ġesu, proposed by another developer.

At the hearing last May, Paola Labour mayor Dominic Grima insisted that his locality would not handle too many “student studio apartments” that increase population density, strain infrastructure, eat away residents’ parking spaces and increase traffic congestion.

Despite his pleas, the Planning Commission voted in favour of dramatically slashing the developer’s fee from €110,000 to €35,000 to cover the lack of provision of parking.

A separate application for 21 one-bedroom apartments proposed by Silvan Mizzi was approved 265m downhill from the Corradino Correctional Facility on a corner site between Triq Valletta and Triq Brittanja.

Joseph Portelli is also proposing 62 one-bedroom apartments out of a total of 125 in a newly approved block in Psaila Street Birkirkara which is partly located in a zone designated as a “commercial” area where the 20% restriction on one-bedroom apartments does not apply.