How to fit 22 apartments in a 300sq.m plot in Paola

The Paola local council is opposing the development of a five-storey block consisting of 22 apartments on a 300sq.m corner site in the Lourdes area.

The council’s objection refers to the adverse visual impact of the proposed 17.5m-high development on a site partly located in the urban conservation area where only two floors are allowed.

But the council is mostly objecting to the intensification of use, which the locality “cannot sustain.”

The proposed development is between Triq Brittanja and Triq Valletta. Its proponent is Silvan Mizzi, a business partner of construction mogul Joseph Portelli in a company called Trivium Projects.

The council blamed the intensity of the proposed development and similar developments being proposed in Paola, on the designation of a “vast area of Paola” as a Student Priority Area.

The Development Control Design Policy approved in 2015 designated properties located in a 350m radius around the entire external perimeter of the University of Malta, the Junior College, the Mater Dei hospital, the Gozo general hospital and the MCAST campuses in Paola and Naxxar as Student Priority areas.  The council was not consulted before this policy was introduced.

While in all other areas in Malta and Gozo the number of one-bedroomed apartments is capped at 20% of the total number of apartments which can be approved in any project, no such capping  applies to projects proposed in Student Priority Areas.

And while two-bedroom apartments must respect a minimum size of 90sq.m, one-bedroom apartments can be built over 55sq.m.

In an objection filed by council architect Jesmond Mugliett, the council noted that in this case the developer is proposing an office and 22 maisonettes on a small plot of 300sq.m.

In this case 21 of the proposed apartment consist of one bedroom studio apartments and one of these apartments is even smaller than 55sq.m.

The council also noted that two of the apartments on each floor will obtain their lighting from an internal yard which is only 1.5m wide - not sufficient to provide an adequate level of privacy particularly to the bedrooms and bathrooms overlooking this shaft.

The council claims that this is in breach of policies and will result in a substandard development with a “slummy outlook.”

The Paola local council also objected to the shortfall in the parking spaces resulting from the development, noting that only seven garages are proposed.

The council warned that the designation of a large part of Paola as a student priority area is increasing the pressure to demolish existing houses, so these are redeveloped as studio apartments.

The council warned that this policy is resulting in a “proliferation of kerbside parking”, since these developments do not usually provide for all the parking required.  Moreover, this is happening  at a time when parking problems in Paola are being exacerbated by the increase of offices located in the area, the growth of the MCAST campus and the development of a new regional hospital.