Council pays €16 a day for gym nobody wants, and €17,500 parking ‘fee’

The St Paul’s Bay local council is paying €16 a day to rent a private garage on which it had presented an application for the development of a gym. 

The application was presented by the council’s executive secretary in 2014, then represented by architect William Lewis, the Labour Party’s organising secretary.  

Mayor Graziella Galea confirmed that since December 2013 the council has been paying a daily rent of €16, which is set to rise to €18, for a property which is not even being used.

The mayor claims that the previous council had already committed itself “at least verbally” with one organisation, for the use of these premises as a gym.

“It seems that work had already been carried out inside the premises, prior to obtaining the necessary permits, with residents claiming that some material had been removed close to the final days of the local council election,” Galea said.

Galea claims that the current council is bound by the decisions of the previous council, now that the application is in its final stages, with the final decision for this project to be taken on 7 August.

Residents are objecting to the conversion of the Qawra garage into a gym because this would severely affect parking and traffic, and may set a precedent for further commercial development in a residential area.

Residents claim that the influx of people using the gym would increase demand for parking space.

Furthermore, the property proposed to be turned into a gym is a garage that was specifically built with the residential block according to planning rules, to alleviate any parking problems caused by the development. Residents claim that this would also go against the policy of having garage units underneath the condominium.

On his part, the MEPA case officer has recommended approval, arguing that the proposal is located in an area designated by the local plan as a “local centre” where facilities like gyms and other commercial development can be developed. 

The case officer report states that development will create a parking shortfall as well as a demand for more parking spaces and recommended a €17,500 contribution to the Urban Improvement Fund. 

Galea claims that this means that the council will incur an expense of €17,500 for parking spaces which have been lost or not provided by the local council. 

“This expense will have to be incurred for premises which are not the property of the local council. Hence, the local council would have incurred unnecessary expenses and obtained a MEPA permit for premises it does not own”.

According to Galea the local council will now have to decide on whether to continue renting this place or not. 

“Unfortunately it seems that the previous local council did not consult with the residents in the area. The residents themselves are objecting to the conversion of the garage into a gym, for a number of reasons. It seems that the previous council has already committed itself, at least verbally, with one organization, for the use of these premises”.

She also pointed out that it would have been wiser for the previous local council to rent premises with the required permit in hand, avoiding unnecessary expenses and providing immediately a place where youngsters can actually go.

In the meantime, the council has set up a subcommittee whose primary aim is to find a site, ideally a public site, on which facilities for young people can be erected after consulting with the residents and the youths themselves.

MEPA has now ordered the architect to prepare a fire, ventilation and noise emission report.