Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1107757
8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 21 APRIL 2019 NEWS European Parliament and Local Council Elections - May, 2019 Early Voting The Electoral Commission informs those voters who intend to vote one week before polling day, owing to their being abroad or hospitalized, that they may personally call at the Office of the Electoral Commission, Counting Hall Complex, Naxxar, or at 28A, St Francis Square, Victoria, Gozo, to effect the necessary sworn statement as follows: Monday to Friday: 8.00 a.m. until 1.30 p.m. and 3.00 p.m. until 7.00 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays: 8.00 a.m. until noon The legal deadline to effect such applications by affidavit is noon of Friday 17th May, 2019. Applicants must show their I.D. or Residence Card. NOTICE BY THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION www.electoral.gov.mt JAMES DEBONO A developer's bid to extend the development zone in Zabbar is being issued for public consultation, with the public invited to submit pres- entations between 17 April and 29 May. The non-starter application seeks an extension of devel- opment boundaries along La- bour Avenue in Zabbar. But judging from recent decisions by the Planning Author- ity, the application has little chances of being approved. In fact, in March the PA's Executive Council unani- mously rejected two similar planning control applications to extend development zones in Ta' Lehfar, Triq it-Tamar, Ghasri, and Triq il-Qsajjem, Xlendi. The executive council, chaired by the PA's executive chairman Johann Buttigieg, had strongly objected to the proposals since the sites were located outside development zones (ODZ) and would have also introduced additional threats to the countryside in the form of a precedent for similar proposals. Back in November, a PA spokesperson categorically told MaltaToday the authori- ty had no intention of accept- ing requests to extend the de- velopment zones beyond the 2006 boundaries. "Planning Control applications which propose extensions to the development zone cannot be considered favourably". The application earmarks 13,865sq.m of agricultural land in Zabbar for the devel- opment boundaries, and was presented in June 2018 by developer Charles Camilleri's CA&S Limited. The move would result in nothing less than a portion of land equivalent to two foot- ball grounds, located along Labour Avenue in Zabbar, being added to the extended development zones. The agriculture land is be- ing proposed for residential development in the vicinity of James Garage and Lourdes Service Station, part of a large stretch of agricultural land between Triq il-Kunsill tal- Ewropa and Labour Avenue. The request is called a plan- ning control application, which proposes the inclusion of the site "in the develop- ment scheme" by changing the zoning of the area that is presently outside develop- ment boundaries. The application was pre- sented by Jodie Camilleri on behalf of CA&S Limited, one of whose owners is developer Charles Camilleri, known as 'Tal-Franciz': he is cur- rently involved in the com- pany seeking a green light for a 13-storey development on the site of the former Jerma Hotel in Marsaskala. The site has multiple owners as the applicant declared he does not own the site in full. Since the site is presently ODZ, no development ex- cept that foreseen in the 2014 rural policy rules, can be al- lowed. The Zabbar application is unprecedented because it proposes, for the first time since the revision of the de- velopment boundaries in 2006, that an extensive pock- et of ODZ land is scheduled for residential development. In this case the extension is being proposed through an application by a private de- veloper, and not by the gov- ernment or the Planning Au- thority, as happened in 2006. Over the past years develop- ment in ODZ areas has been mainly restricted to a range of developments permitted by the 2014 rural policy, which apart from developments re- lated to agriculture also al- lows the redevelopment of the ruins of older buildings. Minister Ian Borg recently told MaltaToday that the gov- ernment will not be changing the development boundaries last enlarged in 2006 for the "foreseeable" future. Information recently pre- sented in parliament revealed that upon commencing a revision of the local plans months after being elected to office in 2013, the Labour government was inundated by proposals by landowners to include their plots in de- velopment schemes. In Gozo alone, 497 submis- sions have been made, seek- ing permission to extend the development zones on par- cels of land kept outside the boundaries. jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt Developers press on with bid to extend Zabbar development zone JAMES DEBONO 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 de- velopment on the site presently occupied by its carpark, an eye- sore which lies behind a sched- uled 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 develop- ment is already permitted on the part of the existing carpark, which is further away from the coast. But the part of the site clos- er to the coastline is regulated by a local plan policy on coastal are- as, 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 build- ing 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 out- lets is being proposed between the residential and office devel- opment, and the already restrict- ed natural coastline, which will not be impinged upon. Peninsula Holdings, whose di- rectors include three major busi- ness groups – namely Paul and Carmel Polidano and Isabelle Vella, Mark and Francis Por- telli, 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 ap- plied to develop 144 residential suites over 10 floors on the same site. The developers also pro- posed the restoration of the his- torical entrenchment wall and 290 underlying parking spaces on the same site. The application is still pending. The local plan already envisages residential development on part of the carpark site but changes proposed by the resort owners would shift development closer to the coastline Westin wants to place residential areas, offices closer to the coast