Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1165935
10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 15 SEPTEMBER 2019 NEWS CENTRAL LINK JAMES DEBONO THE final decision on the re- fusal of the 3,000sq.m petrol station along the Rabat Road will be decided according to current rules, despite being set to be replaced by a more strin- gent regime on petrol pump de- velopments. Ludwig Camilleri, the owner of the land on the Rabat Road in the vicinity of the St Mary of Victories chapel, has appealed the Planning Authority's unani- mous refusal of his proposal petrol station. Under a proposed regime set to replace the 2014 petrol pump rules, Camilleri's application would have been automatically refused because the new rules will exclude petrol stations on agricultural land, and such de- velopments are only limited to 1,000sq.m when the land is outside development zones but committed by other develop- ments. Camilleri's appeal, filed by the former Planning Authority CEO Ian Stafrace, disputes the refusal, reached because the nearby Pit Stop petrol station in Attard is at a distance of less than 500m from his proposed fuel station. Camilleri's archi- tect claims the distance is actu- ally 502m, and 510m apart, us- ing the future configuration of the Central Link road project. Camilleri is protesting that his suggestion to "drastically" reduce the size of a proposed shop was not taken into consid- eration, and that the PA applied different criteria to those used to approve other ODZ petrol stations. The proposed 3,000sq.m de- velopment includes both a pet- rol station and car wash, and was initially recommended for refusal by the PA's case officer. The Attard petrol station saga Camilleri, son of Piju Camill- eri, advisor to the former La- bour minister Lorry Sant, acquired a Birkirkara petrol station licence in 2014, with the intention of relocating it to a property outside development zones. After considering a site in Sali- na, deemed to be a non-starter by the environment directorate (now the Environment and Re- sources Authority), he request- ed permission for his land on the Rabat Road, at the mouth of Attard. He had already earmarked the site for a private cemetery in 2011, but development of new cemeteries on ODZ land was precluded by a new policy ap- proved in 2014. In the 1990s the site had been subject to a planning enforce- ment against an illegal dwelling by Michael Axisa, but the de- bris was left on site.Camilleri's proposal is located on the part of the site impacted by this en- forcement. The Attard local council agrees with the case officer's recommendation to refuse the development. "There is no jus- tification for the take-up of un- developed land after Attard lost 50,000sq.m of agricultural land to the Central Link project." ERA chairman Victor Axiak agreed with the council that one should not lose even more land than what was lost for Central Link project, simply to relocate a very small pump to a much larger area. Axiak said the draft petrol station policy still under review would have ruled the proposal out automatically. JAMES DEBONO THE Environment and Re- sources Authority is standing firm against a proposed road- side cafeteria being proposed instead of a derelict lime fac- tory along the extended Cen- tral Link network. The former establishment lies outside development zones, opposite the Fort Busi- ness Centre. The ERA warned that ex- cavation of a basement for a car park would commit more ODZ land for future "piece- meal" development. The basement level lies in a differ- ent part of the field in ques- tion, and not beneath the lime factory, with the ERA saying that this would degrade and commit an additional part of the site. "The plans as submit- ted encourage a piece meal approach to commit the en- tire field," the ERA said. While the ERA's own chair- man had voted in favour of the Central Link road-widen- ing despite the loss of 40,000 sq.m of farmland along the route, the authority now in- sists there is no "valid justifi- cation for the further loss of land outside the development zone boundary". It warned the construc- tion of a catering outlet and it ODZ basement were not suitable, as such commercial buildings were easily located inside development zones. Part of the ODZ land near the derelict factory is being expropriated for the Central Link road, therefore bring- ing the former factory closer to the bypass, justifying the rationale for the roadside caf- eteria. The application is being proposed by Raymond Zam- mit, who declared having the "consent" of the site owners. The first plans were pre- sented in March but were on- ly published on the PA web- site in August. Previously the application was listed as 'in- complete' and therefore not accessible to the public. The proposal is for the fac- tory to be rebuilt on three lev- els, including basement level, on a 200sq.m footprint. The upper floor will be reserved for "executive dining". In 2003 an application pre- sented by Joe Micallef had proposed stores, parking fa- cilities and a ground floor wedding hall on the same site. The application was refused due to its ODZ location. Earlier this week, another application was presented by Donit Limited, to construct a garden centre outside de- velopment zones, including offices, retail space and a car park, at Sqaq Tal-Hofra fur- ther down the alley from the Michael Attard petrol station. Landowner appeals fuel station refusal Roadside café wants basement car park in more ODZ land Left: the Rabat Road land where Camilleri wants to build a new fuel station. Below: the former lime factory which lies outside development zones, but which will be brought closer to Mriehel with the Central Link road widening project. The applicant also wants a car park with a basement level in a nearby field