Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1285850
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 6 SEPTEMBER 2020 9 NEWS For more information contact the Regulator for Energy and Water Services, www.rews.org.mt, send an email to: enquiry@rews.org.mt or call 2295 5000 MINISTRY FOR ENERGY AND WATER MANAGEMENT that Portelli was exempted from the planning gain. In January 2018, when the PA approved his 31-storey Mercury tower, the PA board defeated by eight votes to five the imposition of a €250,000 planning gain. The developers were saved the penalty for a road between the neighbouring Pen- dergardens and Mercury pro- jects they would finance. The former PA chief executive, Jo- hann Buttiegig, himself opposed the planning gain because there had been no increase in Mercu- ry House's floorspace over what had been previously approved in 2012, conceding that the devel- opers had assumed substantial, costly obligations. The planning gain quandary Planning gains have in the past been imposed on a number of major projects. All fuel stations permitted outside the develop- ment zone, like the one in Bur- marrad, paid a €50,000 planning gain because their ODZ impact could not be mitigated. The €25 per square metre for- mula was raised from a paltry €4.33 in August 2017 while the PA was debating the permit- ting of a further five storeys for the 14 East tower in Gzira. ERA board chairman Vince Cassar argued that "to ensure the new rate is applied to all future high- rise developments it should be stipulated as a fixed rate per square metre". Subsequently, the PA's plan- ning directorate started to use this formula for major projects, including low-rise ones: Farsons, DB's City Centre project, Vil- la Rosa in St George's Bay, and a recently approved 15-storey high-rise in Ta' Xbiex. But then, the PA's appeals tri- bunal – the EPRT – slashed a €623,325 planning gain for An- ton Camilleri's St George's Bay development to just €116,187, reverting it back to tha €4.66/ sq.m rate for projects approved before August 2017. Camilleri had protested that the new plan- ning gain created a situation of "inequity" for projects approved right before August 2017. The decision sent shockwaves among local councils, who feared the precedent would de- prive them of funds. The PA is appealing the EPRT's own decision in court; the cur- rent prime minister Robert Abe- la was then still the PA's lawyer, declaring that he had no qualms in presenting the appeal because it is important "to keep a certain distance from the business com- munity when the national and community interest demands it… even in cases where such de- cisions may hurt." How planning gains are regu- lated Although a power granted to the PA by the Development Planning Act, "unless specified in a policy, there is no estab- lished criteria to determine the imposition of a Planning Obli- gation," a PA spokesperson told MaltaToday. The planning directorate can recommend the obligation when impacts from a development cannot be mitigated, in the form of a project, payment or both. But there is no formula estab- lished at law; the planning direc- torate itself could recommend a compensatory project in the form of junction improvements, embellishment, public gardens or play areas, unless it goes for the cash formula. Any tall building whose height is determined by the PA's floor-area ratio, is subject to a planning gain, specifically an open space and not necessarily a sum of money. Nor is the planning gain nec- essary when a major project's impact can be mitigate: Portel- li originally wanted a 13-story high-rise, and would have been obliged to provide a public space or pay a lump sum of cash. But then he climbed down to five storeys in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, and so did the planning gain. Joe Portelli's Qormi office block: his planning gain was just €10,000 after accepting to restore an old farmhouse that was on site JAMES DEBONO HIGH-RISE projects are sold to Maltese communities as a way of creating public, open urban spaces around towers. But what happens when these spaces are finally approved? That is the fate of Gzira's 14 East, a 22-storey tower whose 'public open space' is the con- tested site for 160 square metres of al fresco table space for Café Pascucci, one the DIZZ group's food companies. The Planning Authority has declared that the café tables are excessive and an obstruction to pedestrians. The PA's floor area ratio (FAR) policy says tall buildings must provide "high quality, public open space" within the site, not less than 50% of the area proper, and must also be deemed a plan- ning gain for the community. For 14 East's three-sided area, its 890sq.m of open space has some 195 sq.m of its roofed. But this particular area's use was never determined when the tower was approved back in 2015. When permitting was request- ed for the "roofed" open space to become Pascucci's space, the PA refused, saying it detracted the quality of the open space; and failing to keep a 1.5m pas- sageway for pedestrians. Additionally, the seating area had created a demand for 16 new parking spaces not catered for by the project. DIZZ has appealed the deci- sion, claiming it sets a prece- dent against al fresco tables and chairs in high-rise open spaces. It even argued that "FAR public spaces" are being seen differ- ently to historically public and scheduled piazzas like Pjazza Regina in Valletta. "[Chairs and tables offer] a positive contri- bution to street life [and] draw people in the area." jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt High-rise space just like Pjazza Regina, Pascucci café pleads