PA’s friendly nudge guided developers on best way of getting permit for ODZ home

The Planning Authority has blocked an attempt by developers to exploit a policy loophole that allows rural ruins to be reconstructed, this time into an old people’s home, outside development zones on Triq il-Gharghur in Naxxar.

But the authority then guided the developers to exploit a different loophole in the Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development, foreseeing the building of old people’s homes in ODZ areas when no “feasible alternative” exists in an urban area.

And as expected, it accepted studies showing that no such alternatives exist.

Originally, the area earmarked for the old people's home consisted of a chicken farm whose demolition was ordered by the PA itself in 2000. 

The 4,758-square metre site along Triq il-Gharghur is now earmarked for the development of a three-storey, 238-bed old people’s home.

The area is designated by the local plan as a “strategic open gap” where “any urban development” is not allowed, “except for essential small scale utility infrastructure”.

The home for the elderly is proposed by Katari Holdings, owned by Paul Attard, one of the three shareholders of GAP Holdings, the developers of Fort Cambridge in Tigné.

Rural ruins loophole

The old chicken farm was pulled down after in 2000, the PA issued a permit to Zackary Calleja for the extension of a chicken farm in Maghtab on condition that the Naxxar farm is closed down completely and that the building is “pulled down, and the site is cleared” before the new farm is brought into operation.

The PA had also turned down an application by Calleja to turn the land into residential units.

Now, in March 2016, Katari Holdings attempted to get the PA’s green light for the elderly home by citing the new Rural Policy and Design Guidance, which allows the rebuilding of the ruins of older structures if the replacement building occupies the same footprint.

the area earmarked for the old people's home consisted of a chicken farm

But in April, the PA informed them in a screening letter that the proposal was not feasible since the chicken farm had indeed been demolished by the PA’s own terms in the 2000 permit granted to Calleja for his Maghtab farm.

However, the PA also nudged the developers into considering that they did have a chance for the new building by consulting the SPED policy TO 2.1, which guides the location of social and community facilities.

Katari followed suit: instead of asking for the “redevelopment of 1978 building into an old people’s home” they requested to “demolish pre-1978 existing building and to construct a facility for the care of the elderly and nursing home (Class 2A) on disturbed land, according to SPED policy TO 2.1”.

And that policy allows them to build an old people’s homes inside a rural area if “no feasible alternatives” exist in the urban area.

Feasible alternatives study

Naxxar is already home to two institutions of the elderly: one run by the Jesuit Order in Triq il-Markiz Scicluna, and the other privately-run by AX Holdings at Hilltop Gardens.

In its screening letter, the PA asked Katari Holdings for a site-selection study that would “provide evidence that no other feasible alternatives exist in the urban area.”

And in July, PA executive chairperson Johann Buttigieg decreed that, after having seen the completed study, “on the basis of the information provided no alternative exists within the urban area for the location of the home for the elderly.”

So Buttigieg instructed Katari to proceed to the second stage of the site selection study by considering ODZ sites, giving a priority to already developed sites, and restricted to the areas of Gharghur, Iklin, Naxxar, Pembroke, San Gwann and Swieqi. 

The study identified two vacant sites inside the developable urban area, namely undeveloped fields inside Naxxar. But these two sites were excluded on the basis of a financial feasibility analysis.

Then, the next feasible alternative – this time outside development zones – yielded a site in Maghtab, but this was excluded as it was deemed unsuitable due to its rural location, distance from the nearest urban area, and accessibility issues.

So the Naxxar site originally earmarked by Katari came back into play after project development statement described the land as “disturbed” with no flora or fauna species of particular ecological importance. The PDS however also noted that the open area, which runs alongside the motorway linking Naxxar to Salini, provided “a number of environmental, social and cultural benefits arising from their ‘naturalness’, and the Scheme will result in the loss of these aspects”.

The Environment and Resources Authority has objected to the development.