Villa Bonici development ‘premature’, MEPA to present new brief

The planning directorate of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority is calling on the authority's board - the highest decision-making body - to refuse an application for the redevelopment of the Villa Bonici gardens, in Parisio Street, Sliema.

The proposed development consists of 188 apartments in four residential blocks ranging in height between two and 12 floors.

A public hearing on this application is set to take place next Thursday.

The application attracted controversy for its radical redevelopment of the green space, a garden belonging to the stately Villa Bonici and a unique house in the over-developed Sliema and Gzira area.

But the future of this area could still be in the balance after next Thursday's decision, as the case officer's report reveals that discussions have already started with the owners to devise a new development brief.

In fact the developers have been asked by the Planning Directorate to withdraw the present application.

Strangely, the owners have pressed on with the application, which is most likely set to be rejected as it is in breach of a local plan.

The main reason given in the case officer's report for refusing the development is that no development brief, as stipulated by the North Harbour Local Plan, has been devised for this zone. That means the proposed development falls outside the parameters of acceptable development in the area.

According to the case officer's report the project will result in the complete destruction of the gardens.

A proposed eight-storey block would also have an adverse impact on the scheduled villa, due to the short distance between the two buildings.

Villa Bonici was built before 1872 as a country residence for Emmanuele Testaferrata Bonici Ghaxaq. Parts of Villa Bonici in Sliema were scheduled as a Grade 2 property in 2010.

Its present owner, Alfred Gera de Petri, has insisted that Villa Bonici is his family's private property and that the villa's location in the middle of urban development gave its owners rights to its monetary value. "Some people, in their unbridled enthusiasm, seem to forget that owners do have rights and that these are also protected by the Constitution and the European Court," Gera de Petri had told the Times.

The Sliema Residents Association had insisted that the area should be developed for community purposes.