Qala countryside villa recommended for approval

The decision on a controversial Qala redevelopment of a 31 sq.m countryside ruin into a villa with swimming pool due yesterday has been postponed to 15 October, after the developer submitted new plans reducing the dwelling’s footprint from 150 sq.m to 115 sq.m.

The Planning Authority’s planning commission, chaired by Elizabeth Ellul, has been keen on approving the development despite strong objections by the case officer, who insisted the development could not be approved because aerial photos dating back to 1978 showed a roofless room.

But in the latest twist, the latest plans have now been endorsed by the PA’s planning directorate – the case officers’ unit – and are recommended for approval, following a review by the post-recommendation team (PRT).

The revised drawings indicate a proposed 115 sq.m ground floor and an underlying 60 sq.m basement. A 40 sq.m pool is also being proposed but its location has shifted to a field at a higher level, so that it is less visible from the street.

The property comprises 4,700 square metres of disused farmland in an idyllic setting with unobstructed views, and was purchased by Excel Investments, a company owned by construction magnate Joseph Portelli, last January.

The planning commission chairman Elizabeth Ellul has denied having a conflict of interest after the Times of Malta revealed that her husband Andrew Ellul was acting as an architect for another development project involving Portelli. Ellul regularly recuses herself from decisions whenever her husband and daughter, also an architect, submit development applications before her. But this has not precluded her from taking decisions on other planning applications submitted by clients of her relatives.

The Qala saga

The application was submitted on the basis of a controversial 2014 policy but was initially recommended for refusal by the case officer.

Instead of turning down the application, Ellul’s commission indicated an intention to overturn the recommendation and approve the permit.

In August, the commission responded to a revised case officer report which still called for the refusal of the application, saying that not approving the application “would not be consistent with the other decisions taken by the Planning Commission”, which is “adamant there is no infringement to the policy”.

The commission referred to 11 other similar decisions approved in the past months.

“The policy is what it is. It is not the remit of the Commission to change the approved policy but it us up to the legislator to decide any policy changes,” Ellul said.

The planning directorate is insisting that the permit cannot be issued because of aerial photos taken in 1978, which show that the building on the site already had no roof and therefore could not have been used as a residence.

It cited a court sentence which states that policy also requires that the use of a building must also be legally established in 1978.

Commission ‘concerned’ by case officer’s refusal

In July the case officer was reprimanded by Ellul for recommending the application for refusal, saying the board was “very concerned that the directorate recommended a refusal of this applications”.

While the case officer decried the lack of definitive proof that the building had been used as a residence in the past, the commission insisted that the directorate had not analysed the documents related to the residential status of the building well.

The policy that allowed the permit to be approved is the Rural Development Guidelines issued in 2014, which includes a clause (Policy 6.2.A) that specifically allows the “rehabilitation and change of use of architectural historical or vernacular interest” and allows their transformation into dwellings.

The policy specifically allows the construction of a dwelling (even if the former use was not residential), provided the existing building to be converted has a minimum area 100 sq.m.

In the Qala case, the proposal did not qualify for a new residential use because the internal floor area was 21 sq.m.

But the same policy further specifies that a converted building can be used for a use that is already legally established.

Therefore, the developers presented a death certificate, indicating that Grazia Mifsud was found dead in an unnumbered room in Ta’ Muxi in August 1921.

But documents from Qala’s Status Animarum – the parish archives – show that Mifsud lived in another house in central Qala.

Environment Minister Jose Herrera had decreed last July’s decision by the commission not to reject the application outright as being “not on”.

The Planning Authority is still in the process of reviewing its ODZ policies which led to the conversion of a number of countryside ruins in to full fledged villas over the past four years. The review was commenced after a MaltaToday probe in to ODZ permits issued by the Planning Commission despite the contrary advice of the Environment and Resources Authority.