One more storey for Riviera hotel

MEPA is set to approve the addition of an extra fifth floor on the ODZ Riviera hotel, which over the past decades has grown from the 61 rooms approved in the 1990s to the 242 rooms of today.

With the proposed extension the hotel will further grow to 293 rooms.

The new plans also pave the way for the development of a new car park, the closing of the road in front of the hotel and the widening of an existing road east of it. 

Vehicles will no longer be allowed to pass in front of the hotel and removable bollards will be set on both sides of the road to create a pedestrianised area in front of the hotel.

It is also being proposed that the road running along the eastern boundary of the hotel will be widened and turned into a two-lane road, which will provide access to the hotel’s semi basement parking and the relocated loading bay.

An illegal car park located south west of the hotel will be effectively legalised and landscaped through the application, providing space for 63 cars.  

Both the Environment Protection Directorate and the Planning Directorate had initially objected to the new car park and to the addition of another floor. But subsequently the latter approved the plans in view of the extensive terracing used.

The Planning Directorate welcomed the pedestrianisation of the road in front of the hotel as this will remove the eyesore of cars that currently park there, while approving the widening of an existing road on the eastern border of the hotel to provide public access to the beach, slipway and farmers’ rooms.

Despite the new car park the project will create a shortfall of 28 parking spaces in the area.

The hotel, originally built as a small 16 room hotel in the 1960s, was the centre of a planning controversy in the late 1990s and the early 2000s.

Developer Charles Polidano first applied for an extension of the pre-existing Solemar hotel in 1997, but despite a negative recommendation by the Planning Directorate, the extension was approved. In 1998, Polidano applied for another extension, but the application was refused in 2000. Despite the refusal, the expansion was still carried out illegally. In 2001, MEPA was asked to sanction the extension retroactively.

The case caused wide embarrassment within MEPA itself, creating a strong rift between the board and its planning experts. While the Planning Directorate had urged a refusal, arguing that the development was incompatible with the rural and coastal characteristics of the area and also ran counter to the Structure Plan, the MEPA board proceeded to legalise the development after imposing a Lm200,000 (€460,000) fine on Polidano.