Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1228170
6 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 1 APRIL 2020 NEWS TOWNSCAPES JAMES DEBONO LOMBARD Bank will turn a cor- ner townhouse in Balzan's Triq il-Kbira, formerly the house of former EU commissioner John Dalli, into its next branch. Its former owner Mario Fo- mosa had unsuccessfully tried to demolish the property to replace it with an apartment block. In 2018, the Planning Authority finally issued a per- mit for a 10-apartment block in which the existing façade was to be integrated in the fabric of the new development, which will include two additional floors, one of which receded. But the townhouse was later sold to Lombard Bank, which already has a branch in a near- by site. The corner townhouse is de- scribed by the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage as a mid- 20th century traditional build- ing whose architectural fea- tures warrant preservation. Lombard wants to add an ad- ditional storey and a receded floor. While the Superintend- ence has already given its go- ahead to the latest plans, the PA's Advisory committee on de- sign issues has expressed some concerns. The Design Adviso- ry Committee says a proposed basement level should not ex- tend beneath the interior face of the existing façade, and that the receded floor should retain the same setbacks approved in previous applications. Din l-Art Helwa has also expressed concern on any in- crease in the volume of the building adding that the doc- umentation presented so far is lacking in clarity. Lombard takes former Dalli home for Balzan branch Old Mellieha house gets the chop Illegal road to Gharb fireworks factory could be widened A two-storey Mellieha farm- house deemed to have "vernac- ular value" by the Superintend- ence for Cultural Heritage will still be demolished to make way for a maisonette, six apartments and a penthouse. The Superintendence objected to the complete demolition of the Triq Bronja farmhouse, in- sisting the façade should be re- tained and integrated in the de- velopment. It called for a design "guided by the relatively austere facade of the existing property." The project's architect refused this request, arguing that in the same street similar facades have been demolished and new blocks have already been erected. The architect also argued that the retention of the façade would have had a "very negative im- pact on the applicant's wealth." Moreover, retaining the façade created a design problem as it was higher than the proposed façade for each floor. The case officer rebutted that there was only one similar build- ing which was demolished as a result of a permit issued by the Planning Authority in 2017. But despite the case officer's objec- tion the Planning Commission chaired by architect Simon Sal- iba concluded that due to the site context the existing façade in Triq il-Bronja can be demol- ished. A country road illegally widened in recent years could be widened even further to facilitate access to a firework factory in Gharb. The factory's owners, Michael Caruana and the Ghaqda tan- Nar 31 ta'Mejju, want sanc- tioning of the 125-long path to ensure safe access to the factory approved in 2018. An enforcement order against the illegal widening of the path was already issued in 2009. The 5000 sq.m factory, located in an area designated for its high landscape value, was approved despite strong objections by the Environment and Resources Authority in 2018. The country road existed prior to 1968, but part of it was wid- ened illegally in recent years before the application for the fireworks factory was even pre- sented. An ad hoc committee assess- ing the safety aspects of fire- works factories had stipulated an access of 3.7m for emergen- cy vehicles. For that reason the permit was issued on condition that widening is regularised to- gether with other "required im- provements". JAMES DEBONO THE village of Dingli is once again up in arms against a pro- posed five-storey development located at the entrance of the quaint locality. In the face of public pressure last year, plans to develop a five-storey development on Triq il-Kbira in Dingli were changed to a more modest three-storey development. But now the devel- oper has presented a new appli- cation to add a penthouse level and an additional storey over what has been already approved. The plans were changed after the Superintendence for Cultur- al Heritage had objected to the development in view of the scale and intensity of the development immediately outside the Urban Conservation Area. But unfazed by the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly a hundred resi- dents have now presented objec- tions, many of them describing the development as a monstros- ity which would ruin their local- ity. One of the objectors pointed out that due to the nature of the slope and lower ground from which the Dingli entrance is viewed, the visual impact of the development will be inevitable negative. "Through its massive nature, the application will dis- figure the existing skyline of the entrance towards Dingli." The proposed development is situated in the vicinity of a sched- uled, vernacular building and if approved will generate a huge blank wall at the very entrance of the village. Since the other hous- es in the village core fall inside the UCA, no other property is developed to this height, leaving this proposed development as a "stand-alone modern structure at the entrance of an old village." The Dingli local council had objected to the development. Councillors David Vassallo and Rachel Powell are urging resi- dents to send their objections to the planning application. Dingli up in arms over re-proposed five- storey development