Planning Authority extends Paceville masterplan one-to-one consultation meetings

Following “an overwhelming response” from residents to hold individual meetings with its officials, the Planning Authority has decided to extend the public consultation process for the Paceville masterplan for a second time.

The deadline for the public consultation process has now been moved to Friday 9 December 2016. The original deadline was 4 November, but was later extended to 25 November after the Malta Developers Association called for it, arguing that the masterplan was highly detailed and required more time to be studied.

“This renewed extension will give the public, stakeholders and residents the opportunity to review the masterplan in its entirety,” the PA said, referring to the latest extension. “This extension will also meet the request made by the Parliamentary Committee who asked for an extension of time to prepare its position for the Planning Authority’s Executive Council to consider.”

The masterplan is a working document on which the public is being invited to give an input. The authority said the document will then be modified, taking into consideration the feedback received. It added that the draft will then have to be re-issued and undergo a second round of public consultation.
A separate consultation period is also envisaged with respect to the Strategic Environment Assessment.

The framework outlines a new holistic approach to planning in Paceville, assessing the merits of development proposals within the context of public services, infrastructure and the built environment whilst looking out for residents and neighbouring localities. The public can read and give feedback on the masterplan via the Planning Authority’s website (www.pa.org.mt/pacevillemasterplan).

The plan, which was developed by international infrastructure and planning experts Mott MacDonald and Broadway Malyan, includes recommendations on both a development approach for Paceville and also a transport strategy for the area.

It has faced heavy criticism by various groups, as well as found itself at the centre of controversy amid allegations  of conflict of interest.

In a meeting was called by the Paceville local council and Kamp Emergenza Ambjent (KEA), around 200 people, many of whom were residents of Paceville, St Julians, Swieqi and Pembroke expressing their disbelief and anguish at many of the proposals included in the masterplan. One of the most contentious issues was the expropriation of private residences and businesses which, according to the plan, stand to be handed over private companies for re-development, when expropriation usually involved property taken over by government or for public use.

The plan also proposes nine sites for high-rise developments and a land reclamation project over 38,700 square metres of reclaimed land which will include buildings rising up to 15 floors.

Alternattiva Demokratika leader Arnold Cassola had said that the plan is fundamentally flawed given that it starts from the premise that the proposed skyscrapers will all be built, mentioning the impact that high-rise buildings will have on Swieqi valley.

In a separate meeting, St Julian’s mayor Guido Dalli, deputy mayor Albert Buttigieg, and PN councilors Clayton Luke Mula, Rita Dimech Portelli, Clayton Tanti Gregoracy and Edgar Montanaro ensorsed a motion to oppose the masterplan.

In it, they warned that it would be illegal for government to expropriate private property with the intention of selling it to a private company.
“The masterplan has completely ignored the right of citizens to their properties, many of which they had acquired after much sacrifice.”

The councillors also warned that the masterplan breaches the public domain law – which prohibits development within the first 15 metres of the coastline – and that its definition of low-rise buildings as those 15 storeys or lower goes against Maltese law, which defines them as those 10 storeys or lower.

Moreover, the councillors argued that the project – which is expected to attract an extra 18,000 people to Paceville a day – will create traffic, infrastructure and waste management problems in St Julian’s and the surrounding areas.

It also said that the proposed land reclamation will harm the environment, and that the construction of 22 towers will ruin the skyline and cast shadow on zones such as St George’s Bay.

“While we agree that Paceville requires a masterplan, this must be a sustainable one that takes residents’ interests into account,” the motion reads. “It should be preceded by widespread consultation with everyone who will be impacted, including local councils, administrative councils, shop owners and residents.”

Recently, developers Mott MacDonald came under fire after it was revealed that they had also drafted engineering reports for the Mercury House project, the brainchild of businessman Joseph Portelli – who plans to build two skyscrapers on the 80,000-square-metre-site.

Planning Authority’s executive chairman Johann Buttigieg vehemently denied that the consultants for the Paceville masterplan had a conflict of interest.

Mott MacDonald official Damien Price told MPs at the environment and planning committee that they had verbally informed Buttigieg of their work for Portelli, but were given the go-ahead that it didn’t constitute a conflict of interest.

The PA also insisted that the Mott MacDonald personnel that worked on the Paceville masterplan, were totally different from the personnel who provided preliminary, high-level advisory work for the proposed Mercury Tower.

“The electrical and structural engineering works were carried out by Mott MacDonald prior to them being engaged by the Planning Authority and was commissioned directly to them by the international company Zaha Hadid,” the PA had said in a statement.