Parking for Bonnici Brothers’ trucks set for approval after PA’s change of heart

Bonnici Brothers’ bid to regularise a 2,000sq.m basement parking for heavy vehicles on an ODZ site in Burmarrad is one step closer to being approved.

A new case officer report is recommending approval in marked contrast with another report issued in November 2022.

The new report recommends approval because the application involves no additional take-up of ODZ land. The previous report had warned of an “intensification” of ODZ development on the site.

The application is proposing the regularisation of excavations at basement level, the regularisation of an already constructed ‘partial basement level’ and the use of the basement level for the parking of heavy vehicles and machinery.

The site is outside the development zone of Burmarrad in St Paul’s Bay at Triq is-Sardin, corner with Triq San Gwanni Pawlu II. It lies just outside a buffer zone for the San Pawl Milqi chapel and catacombs found in the area.

The existing open storage facility covers 3,500sq.m with a 3.5m-high boundary wall enclosing it on Triq is-Sardin. Aerial photos from 1978 show the site completely free of development.

The storage area, close to the heritage site of San Pawl Milqi was only regularised in 2017 following an application to sanction the fait accompli in 2008. Plans approved in 2017 had already earmarked a 2540 sq.m parking area for heavy vehicles and machinery at ground floor level.

In November 2022, a different case officer had issued a report calling on the PA board to refuse the application arguing that approval will lead to the intensification of industrial activity within a rural area. The extent of hard landscaping being proposed was also considered “excessive”, leading to the “unnecessary take-up of agricultural land” in breach of the Rural Policy and Design Guidance, and “further urban sprawl outside the limits for development” which should be accommodated in areas already designated for such uses.  

A decision on this case was due on 2 February but was subsequently postponed pending a review of the case officer report, which was recommending a refusal.

Now, 10 months down the line the application to sanction the works is being recommended for approval in a new report endorsed by the Development Management Directorate which issued the new recommendation following a re-examination of the case.

The report concluded that the sanctioning of the illegal works is  acceptable since the works “will not result in any additional land uptake from that already covered by previous permits”.

The report refers to submitted drawings indicating  that the proposed development would “not result in further urban sprawl outside the limits for development” and the development is being accommodated within an area already committed for such use in  the permit sanctioning previous illegalities issued in 2017. According to the case office the proposed development will result in the more efficient use of land.

Moreover, although the PA’s advisory panel on agricultural issues has objected to the proposal, the Environment and Resources Authority had concluded that “there are no concerns regarding the proposal from an environmental point of view”.

And the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage, which was not even consulted when the storage area was sanctioned in 2017, described the site of the development as a very sensitive location, expressing concern at the intensive development “in the vicinity of the San Pawl Milqi heritage site”.

But since a permit was already issued to sanction illegalities on the site in 2017, the SCH acknowledged that the site was now committed and therefore, it could not object to alterations to an approved development. The St Paul’s Bay local council had objected to the development.

Following the publication of the new case officer report, the PA board is scheduled to take a final decision on the proposed development in a public hearing set for 9 November.

A history of regularisations

An application to sanction the illegal storage facilities was originally turned down in 2004 due to the negative impact on the scenic value of the area. Subsequently, an enforcement order was issued against the illegal change of use of land from agricultural to commercial, and construction of warehouses without permit.

But an application to sanction the works presented in 2008, was approved nine years later despite a case officer report calling for an outright refusal.

The justification for overturning the advice of the case officer was a permit issued in 1988, to enclose the perimeter of the site with an eight-course high masonry wall rather than a low rubble wall, seen as an indication that the site’s use of a storage area had been considered in the decision of that permit.

All board members, including government representative Joseph Sammut and Opposition representative Ryan Callus and former locality mayor Graziella Galea had voted in favour at the time. Only ERA chairman Victor Axiak and NGO representative Annick Bonello had voted against.

Bonnici Brothers has recently withdrawn an application to build an ODZ supermarket adjacent to the storage area and opposite a proposed roundabout along Triq is-Sardin in Burmarrad. Infrastructure Malta’s application for the proposed roundabout is still pending. A residential project by the same group is also being proposed within development zones on an adjacent site.

Timeline

1988: Bonnici Bros awarded permit to erect wall around site which was illegally used as a storage area

2004: PA twice refuses to regularise illegal storage area

2008: Decision to refuse sanctioning upheld by Appeals Tribunal

2008: New application presented to sanction illegal storage area

2017: PA board sanctions illegal development on the same site despite case officer’s objection

2021: Bonnici Bros apply to excavate site for a basement parking