Westin wants to place residential areas, offices closer to the coast

The scramble for the Paceville coastline in the absence of a masterplan continues, with the owners of the Westin Dragonara requesting a zoning permit to place office and residential areas closer to the coast.

Westin presented a zoning application which would allow office development, serviced apartments and residential development on the site presently occupied by its carpark, an eyesore which lies behind a scheduled military entrenchment wall.

The apartment block is being proposed on the area closest to the coastline near Portomaso, while the office block is being proposed closer to the Westin resort. The serviced apartments are being proposed in between the two clusters.

Presently, residential development is already permitted on the part of the existing carpark, which is further away from the coast. But the part of the site closer to the coastline is regulated by a local plan policy on coastal areas, where development is limited to “minor” extensions of existing developments, and where land use is limited to restaurants, bars and leisure attractions “which enhance the tourist product”.

The local plan specifies that “views onto the sea across the site” cannot be obstructed and that “public access to the coast should not be compromised”.

The zoning application so far gives no indication of the building heights being proposed for the development, which will be concentrated in three clusters in different areas of the present carpark.

The remaining area around the three clusters is proposed as a “public area” with underlying offices and leisure development. An area for food and drink outlets is being proposed between the residential and office development, and the already restricted natural coastline, which will not be impinged upon.

Peninsula Holdings, whose directors include three major business groups – namely Paul and Carmel Polidano and Isabelle Vella, Mark and Francis Portelli, and Bernard and Anthony Gauci, declared full ownership of the site. Nationalist MP Beppe Fenech Adami is listed as board secretary of the company.

In 2018, the same company applied to develop 144 residential suites over 10 floors on the same site. The developers also proposed the restoration of the historical entrenchment wall and 290 underlying parking spaces on the same site. The application is still pending.