Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1531100
12 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 5 JANUARY 2025 NEWS THE owners of an approved ho- tel in a rural hamlet along Triq Marsalforn, Xaghra, Gozo, are seeking to relocate a farmhouse from the hotel site to an ODZ plot a short distance away in Zebbug. Alfred Refalo has filed an ap- plication to relocate the farm- house to a new site "while pre- serving all its original features and construction elements." Refalo had originally applied to demolish the farmhouse to make way for the proposed hotel, which was approved in 2019. However, during the ap- plication process, the Superin- tendence for Cultural Heritage strongly objected to the demo- lition, insisting that the build- ing should be integrated into the proposed project. Subsequently, the Planning Commission asked the devel- oper to dismantle and recon- struct part of the existing farm- house within the boundaries of the same site, in a different position, as outlined in a resto- ration method statement pre- sented in 2018. According to the restoration method statement, the existing stone slabs and arches were to be numbered, marked in place, carefully dismantled, and stored in a safe location—one at a time—to ensure ease of re- construction. The 58-room, four-storey hotel, including the recon- struction of the farmhouse on the same site, was approved in 2019 despite objections from the Environment and Resourc- es Authority and a recommen- dation for refusal by the case officer. Although the hotel, which is under construction, will be partly located in a designated rural hamlet, its footprint will extend into the neighbouring countryside, overlooking the valley between Marsalforn and Xaghra. Moreover, hotels are not list- ed among the types of develop- ment allowed in rural hamlets in the Gozo Local Plan. Now, five years after the orig- inal approval, Refalo is propos- ing to relocate the farmhouse to an ODZ site in Zebbug, 80 metres from its original loca- tion, raising concerns about further urban sprawl. The site where the proposed relocation is planned does not contain any built-up structures and consists entirely of natural land. Hotel owner wants old farmhouse moved to ODZ In 2016, Alfred Refalo applied to demolish the farmhouse to make way for a hotel, but the permit granted in 2019 required him to reconstruct the building alongside the new hotel. He is now proposing to relocate it to an ODZ site JAMES DEBONO jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt Site where farmhouse was located currently under construction (marked in purple) and proposed site for relocation (marked in blue).