After high-rise, Xghajra land earmarked for five-storey ODZ project

A five-storey Xghajra development will uproot trees and rubble walls on land proposed for inclusion in the development boundaries during the 2013 revision of local plans.  The case officer is calling for a refusal of the proposed apartment block describing it as unacceptable development on ODZ land which is in breach of policy.  A final decision by the Planning Commission is expected on 29 January.

The Triq Wied Glavan corner site was requested for inclusion in the development boundaries first in 2006 by applicant Frank Piscopo. But the land was not included in the 2006 extension of development zones.

The site was proposed again for inclusion in a 2013 revision, which has now been aborted. The PA had received 5,500 submissions in its public consultation on the revision of local plans.

Piscopo is not the sole owner of the land in question but cites the consent of the owners for the latest application. The fact that the site is still ODZ means that technically, the application cannot be approved.

The proposal – a residential block of 14 maisonettes, 42 apartments and five penthouses – was made in an outline permission application, the preliminary procedure that sets the parameters of development and which can be approved at a later stage. But no application has been submitted to change the zoning of the area.

In the past the PA made it clear it would refuse any planning control applications for ODZ sites to be included in development zones, and a number of such applications presented in the past five years have been rejected.

Currently, only three types of ODZ developments can be proposed, namely existing farm buildings, dwellings proposed in rural hamlets, and developments at the edge of development zones which ease the transition from countryside.

Xghajra is already faced with another major application for a 15-storey high-rise overlooking Wied Glavan and the sea in the vicinity of Piscopo’s application. The three-tower, 152-block application is located on farmland within the development zone. It was presented by Jason Mifsud, a shareholder in the Fanu Mifsud company of Mqabba, as well as Univest Enterprises and Four Site Operations. Both the Xghajra local council and Smart City Ltd had objected to the development.