Portelli’s block set to replace green enclave in middle of Mosta

The Planning Authority’s case officer has overlooked objections by the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage on a 45-apartment, five-storey block on a 1,200sq.m site.

A final decision will be taken by the Planning Authority in a public hearing on 9 May.

The triangular plot currently has three two-storey buildings, one of which an old townhouse, a number of mature trees and cultivated land enclosed by a characteristic rubble wall constructed before 1900. An old pigeon loft also found on the site will not be demolished.

The site is a residential area between Trejqet il-Bajtar, Triq Baskal Buhagiar and Triq il-Ħtajriet, 340m from the Rotunda.

The project is by CF Developers, a company owned by five shareholders, including magnate Joseph Portelli, which was also behind the Park Lane development in Balzan whose permit was revoked by the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal.

The Superintendence for Cultural Heritage has expressed its concern over heights of the Mosta development, requesting photomontages from various viewpoints. But no visual assessment of the proposal has so far been submitted on the PA’s public information system.

The case officer justified approval, arguing that the surrounding context is already committed with similar development. A 3m buffer around the pigeon loft will be free from any development, with no excavation works for basements being allowed.

Objectors had warned that the development will result in the uprooting of a number of olive, citrus and almond trees, but the case officer report makes no reference to these trees and that the Environment and Resources Authority had itself failed to send its feedback on the application in time. The case officer said the proposal is in line with the local plan, complementing the residential zoning of the area and within the 17.5m height limit.

CF developers, who are advertising their project as Dovecote Residencies, will build 45 apartments, with eight maisonettes and six penthouses with jacuzzis, and a two-storey underground car park. The entire site will be excavated, yet the applicant declared there will be no felling of any trees or in the demolition of any rubble walls.