Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1478015
9 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 4 SEPTEMBER 2022 JAMES DEBONO CONSTRUCTION magnate's Joseph Portelli's Excel Limit- ed has presented plans for a 14-storey hotel that will re- place a four-storey building at Xlendi, on the bay's promonto- ry up on Triq Xmun. The plans were presented by business partner Mark Agius, on behalf of Ex- cel, in which Portelli and Daniel Refalo are also di- rectors. The Plan- ning Au- thority has already ap- proved the d e m o l i t i o n of the build- ing, in an a p p l i c a t i o n approved in January 2021. But the PA also said this did not entail any commitment for the replacement building. The original plans foresaw the excavation of the hotel's park- ing levels, while earmarking the site for the development of a massive 13-storey hotel for the project's second phase. These last plans were omitted from the application and the permit was limited to the dem- olition and no longer foresaw the excavation of the site. The existing building has yet to be demolished. The latest application is for a 4-star hotel with 88 rooms, to become the highest building overlooking the Xlendi coast- line, with four underground floors for a car park, gym and indoor pool, and 14 storeys above street level with a roof pool. In 2021 the Munxar local council – as well as eNGOs Flimkien Ghall Ambjent Ahjar and Moviment Graffitti – had objected to the splitting of the application in two phases. The Environment and Resourc- es Authority (ERA) had also called for the holistic assess- ment of both phase 1 and phase 2 of the project. Mayor Damien Christ Spiteri insisted that although no exca- vation would be allowed at this stage, the demolition of the buildings would still create a quarry due to the configuration of the site. Residents also expressed con- cern that works in the area would endanger their homes built in the 1980s. The PA's planning commis- sion chairman Claude Mallia insisted that the approval of the demolition did not entail a commitment on the future of the site and said he understood the concern about the possible development, encouraging fur- ther discussion on the matter. Excel is also proposing build- ing another complex of 60 apartments nearby in a sepa- rate planning application that is pending appeal. Xlendi: Portelli 14-storey hotel looms over bay JAMES DEBONO THE Environment and Resouces Au- thority's acting CEO Kevin Mercieca is recommending a 'no objection' to the re- development of the Mellieħa Bay Hotel, despite its adverse impact on the land- scape being confirmed by the project's Environment Impact Assessment. The EIA had concluded that "major ad- verse impacts" from five different view- points, as well as from l-Aħrax tal-Mell- ieħa and Torri l-Aħmar, would be further compounded by the extraction of over 122,000 cubic metres of excavation ma- terial. Brian Mizzi's development will see the hotel footprint double from 7,000 to 15,000 square metres, while the gross floor area will jump from 26,000 to 50,000sq.m. In his memo to the ERA, Mercieca said his directorate does not object to this proposal, but noted the impacts to the geo-environment, landscape and visual amenity, and wider considerations for the effective conservation of the surrounding area to be addressed at source "through stringent measures and pre-emptive safe- guards". Conditions proposed by the ERA direc- torate include a lighting plan in line with Birdlife Malta and Nature Trust guide- lines after approval by ERA. Yet although the latest proposal repre- sents a 4,000sq.m reduction in footprint when compared to the original proposal, the latest photomontages are only mar- ginally different from the original issued when the EIA was conducted. The memo is not binding, but is meant to guide the ERA board in a meeting scheduled for next Friday. Similar memos are issued to the board but the ERA has no final say on whether the new hotel is approved or not, as the final decision will be taken by the Planning Board on which it has one vote. But ERA's recommenda- tion has a bearing on the recommenda- tions made in the planning directorate's case officer report that will guide PA board members. The hotel will increase beds from 313 to 359, have five restaurants, two bars and two pool bars, all spread across 11 inter- connected blocks ranging from one to seven storeys. The most significant environmental gain will be the restoration of 4,488 sq.m of coastline currently occupied by hotel structures by shifting the footprint of the development northwards. ERA set to approve doubling of Mellieha Bay hotel Brian Mizzi's development will see the hotel footprint double from 7,000 to 15,000 square metres, while the gross floor area will jump from 26,000 to 50,000sq.m Construction magnate's Joseph Portelli's Excel Limited has presented plans for a 14-storey hotel that will replace a four- storey building at Xlendi, on the bay's promontory up on Triq Xmun. The existing building has yet to be demolished.