Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1278887
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 16 AUGUST 2020 NEWS Delivery fee of just €1 per day for orders up to 5 newspapers per address To subscribe 1. Email us your choice of newspapers, recipient's name, address, contact number to production@ millermalta.com 2. Forward cheques payabale to Miller Dis- tributors Ltd to address: Miller House, Airport Way, Tarxien Road, Luqa LQA1814 Queries on other news- papers and magazines, contact production@millermal- ta.com maltatoday Same-day delivery of your favourite Sunday newspaper Monday-Friday MaltaToday Midweek • €1 BusinessToday • €1.50 Sunday MaltaToday • €1.95 ILLUM • €1.25 Support your favourite newspaper with a subscription https://bit.ly/2X9csmr JAMES DEBONO SLIEMA'S Preluna Hotel is set to expand horizontally after a recent approval for a 15-storey development on the former As- tra hotel, and a new application for a 14-storey hotel extension on top of the Sciantusi pizze- ria, which together will add 192 new rooms. The new 14-storey extension is being proposed instead of an existing 7-storey high hotel wing overlooking Milner Street on top of the pizzeria. The applications follow the approval of an equally high ex- tension over the former Astra hotel in the corner between Tower Road and Milner Street. Malta's first high-rise hotel, which dates back to the 1960s, is now expanding horizontal- ly into Milner Street, which is officially still designated as a residential area despite the var- ious commercial commitments undertaken in this street in the past decades. The Preluna owners lately applied to demolish the wing of the hotel overlooking Mil- ner Street to replace it with a 97-room and 14-storey four- star hotel with access from the original hotel fronting Tower Road. The three uppermost floors will be receded and stepped up to reach the same height of the original Preluna. The Planning Authority has already approved the incor- poration of the neighbouring Astra hotel in the Preluna ho- tel. The development had been originally recommended for refusal by the case officer for being 7m higher than the Mil- ner Street height limitation, after taking into consideration the extra three storeys permit- ted for hotel heights. Milner Street is zoned in the local plan as a residential ar- ea where new hotels are not normally permitted. Howev- er, in his assessment the case officer acknowledged existing commitments on site for the existing Astra Hotel, the Prelu- na wing, the Europa Hotel, and the Park Hotel, and the fact that the area is part of a tour- ism zone. Sliema Preluna towers over residential street Lija villa area saved after PA raises bar on local plan JAMES DEBONO THE Planning Authority has turned down an attempt to re- zone the grounds of a private- ly-owned villa in Lija to permit 13.5 metre-high apartments, in a decision which raises the bar against piecemeal changes to the local plans to accommodate development set on private- ly-owned plots. The 1,937sq.m site is current- ly designated by the local plan as a residential priority area, where only low-rise villas are normally allowed, and where building heights are limited to a maximum of two floors and a semi-basement. But a zoning application by the villa La Fontana's owner Ray Briffa proposed a change in plan- ning rules to permit "terraced and flatted development" rising to 13.5m, which is the equivalent of three floors and a semi-base- ment, as is the case on the op- posite side of Triq Pawlu Galea – but not the case with all other properties along Triq Giovanni Barbara. Residents feared that the re- zoning of this large site could pave the way to the rezoning of other properties, which are even closer to Vjal it-Trasfigurazzjoni where the historical Belvedere is located. Presently apartment blocks are not allowed in the whole row of villas along Transfiguration Ave- nue from the junction to Naxxar Road and to the Belvedere, in- cluding those along Triq Giovan- ni Barbara. The case officer recommend- ing the refusal of the application, described "piecemeal changes to zoning policies" as "not accept- able", warning that in this case the proposal would have resulted in the area being fragmented into different zoning categories. The case officer also warned that if the new development takes the form of terraced hous- es, maisonettes and flats, these would have a negative effect on the neighbouring detached and semi-detached dwellings. In a meeting held last week, the Executive Council chaired by the PA's Executive Chairman Martin Saliba refused the proposal, since the proposed change in zoning would result in the intensifica- tion of density of the area, loss of the private open space, and an adverse impact on the character and visual amenity of the area, running counter to the SPED. The Preluna extension on Milner Street will reach 14 storeys Residents feared that the rezoning of this large site could pave the way to the rezoning of other properties, which are even closer to Vjal it- Trasfigurazzjoni where the historical Belvedere is located.