PA defers decision on Stivala’s 15-storey hotel

The Planning Authority board has deferred taking a decision on a controversial 15-storey hotel  proposed by developer Carlo Stivala on the Sliema seafront.

The hotel is being proposed at the intersection with Triq il-Lunzjata, a residential street in the urban conservation characterised by two and three storey buildings.

The decision was postponed by six weeks after both chairman Emmanuel Camilleri and his deputy Martin Camilleri expressed misgivings on the absence of an adequate transition between the buildings in Triq il-Lunzjata and the strand.  

Triq il-Lunzjata, Sliema (Screenshot: Google Maps)

According to planning policies the building should be stepped down within the development zone, but in this case the stepping down is being proposed within the urban conservation area.

Apart from this issue, activists and residents attending the meeting questioned the legality of the application after it emerged that the developer had carried out works on the same site which were not covered by a permit.

In fact the application has been recently changed to include the “sanctioning” of development carried out without a permit against a fine of  €50,000.

The application was recommended for approval by the case officer a month ago, days after Flimkien Ghall-Ambjent Ahjar accused developer Carlo Stivala of already having built higher than he was previously allowed in two previous permits on the same site. Developer Carlo Stivala denied breaking any laws claiming  that critics were  incorrectly calculating the height of the yet-to-be-finished building.

But in today’s meeting the  architect of the project confirmed that works on the site resulting from previous permits had “continued” to include a part of the development envisaged in the hotel development before it was stopped some days ago.  

But the architect shifted the blame on the blaming contractor for continuing the works.

In fact the application contemplates the sanctioning of works beyond existing permits against a fine of  €50,000.

Astrid Vella from Flimkien ghall-Ambjent Ahjar insisted that approval would be tantamount to condoning an illegality.

She also denounced that the development is in violation of the local plan limiting development to eight floors. 

Moreover part of the development is located in the UCA where building heights are lower.  She also warned that this development will pave the way for the development of another hotel on Triq ix-Xatt at the intersection with Triq Vincenz. 

She warned that the infrastructure of the area cannot the scale of these developments.  Moreover part of the footprint of the hotel lies in a designated residential area.

Board chairman Emmanuel Camilleri noted that the proposed development conforms to the height policies including that which permits hotels an extra two stories above the height limitation and another policy which permits hotels in Sliema an extra floor.  

But he also highlighted the concern expressed by the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage on the lack of an adequate transition between the hotel and the UCA. 

Board member Martin Camilleri also expressed his misgivings on the lack of an adequate transition between the UCA in Triq il-Lunzjata and the increased height along the strand. 

The board chairman also expressed concern on the absence of a final clearance from Transport Malta and from the Commission for the Rights of People with a Disability.  

The SCH had objected to the fact that the stepping down of the building will be carried out in the urban conservation area and not on the part of the site which is outside the UCA as required by existing policies.  

But the developers’ architect insisted that this was impossible because previous permits on the same site (issued to the same developer) were issued in breach of this policy leaving them no choice but to carry out the transition in the UCA itself.  In 2013 Stivala had already obtained permission to demolish the building on the site that previously included a bank and rebuild it into an eight-floor apartment block .

Three years later, the Planning Authority approved a new permit to add a ninth floor to the building