Birzebbugia residents outraged at ruse to avoid impact studies

Concerns on overdevelopment at Birzebbugia’s Ghirghien area is mounting over a 150-apartment development whose planning application is being split in four.

Residents who spoke to MaltaToday said the applications by two commercial groups for seven to eight-storey-high blocks were presented on four adjacent plots occupying 4,842sq.m of land along Triq il-Barrieri, on which over 150 apartments are planned.

A development brief issued 10 years ago was meant to ensure the comprehensive development in the area of il-Ghirghien in Birzebbugia.

Three adjacent applications presented over the past months are proposing 126 new dwellings. These have now been joined by a fourth application in which the number of apartments is not yet specified. Birzebbugia residents are increasingly concerned about traffic problems and infrastructural pressures, aggravated by the fact that the applications are not being assessed holistically. Residents fear that by splitting the development in separate applications, developers are trying to avoid environment impact studies.

The development brief limits development to four storeys and a semi-basement but the 2015 development guidelines translate this height into 22 metres, in which developers are now fitting eight levels.

The latest application presented a few days ago by developer Anton Camilleri envisages an unspecified number of basement garages and overlying apartments and penthouses with a “height limitation of 22m” on a 1,317sq.m plot.

Another adjacent application presented by Adelberth Camilleri – a partner of Anton Camilleri in Garnet Holdings – envisages the construction of 33 lock-up basement garages and nine overlying maisonettes, 45 apartments and eight penthouses on a 2,302sq.m plot.

Paul Attard of GAP Holdings has also applied to construct 35 lock-up garages, 34 dwelling units and five penthouses on a 780sq.m plot.

Another application presented by Ray Grixti, a partner of Attard in Tigné Developments, envisages 10 lock-up garages, 22 units and three receded units on a 443sq.m plot.

The Birzebbugia local council has already objected to the application presented by Attard and Grixti, calling on the PA to assess the applications together. Noting that the applications are complimentary and had been presented by the same architect, the council is insisting on a holistic Environment Impact Assessment for development in this area.

The case is reminiscent of piecemeal applications presented by GAP in Luqa which was eyeing a green area inside Luqa’s development zones. NGOs had objected at what they saw as an attempt to evade a holistic environment impact assessment but the development was still approved.

The area in question is highly disturbed but also includes a number of almond, pomegranate and prune trees.

The Ghirghien brief approved in 2010 specified that 20% of the area should be kept as open space if the area is developed in a comprehensive way.

But the same development brief includes a loophole allowing developers to pay an open space contribution if they apply through separate applications.

The brief also sets a height limitation of four floors and semi-basement if the area is developed comprehensively and of three floors and semi-basement if the area is not developed comprehensively.