Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/321747
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 1 JUNE 2014 4 News JAMES DEBONO TWELVE semi-detached villas with pools and basement garages are being proposed for compensation to the owners of the Fekruna Bay res- taurant, to build on the surrounding open space of an old farmhouse in San Gwann, between Triq ir-Russett and Triq Wied Ghollieqa. The new villas will be set on 3,012 square metres of land, granted by the former Nationalist government in compensation to Raymond Vella for relinquishing ownership of the now- demolished Mare d'Oro restaurant in Fekruna Bay, Xemxija. Vella was also granted 2,630 square metres of land in Ta' Xghajrat in Swieqi as part for the compensation deal. The two land parcels were valued at €4.3 mil- lion. The 1,443 square metres of land in Fekruna Bay were valued at €4.9 million on the basis of the sort of de- velopment permitted under the lo- cal plan approved by the Nationalist government in 2006, which foresaw a "leisure coastal facility" and resi- dential units built on the same area. The Fekruna land had been in- cluded in development zones back in 1989. The land-swap agreement was struck days before the March 2013 election. Former lands minister Jason Azzopardi claimed that the process to find land at a similar value had been a complicated one that had taken months. Thanks to the agreement, the Fekruna eyesore was demolished and the government presented plans to rehabilitate the area. But the deal will result in the de- velopment of an open space in San Gwann. The development proposed in Ka- ppara covers 2,973 square metres of land, lying within developments zones, but which will require the re- moval and relocation of a number of trees. Gozitan entrepreneur Joseph Por- telli presented the planning appli- cation last month. The area of Kap- para, which lies in the vicinity of the protected valley, has seen incremen- tal development since the 1990s. A complex of eight maisonettes was approved on an adjacent plot of land in 1994. In 2004, MEPA also issued an out- line permit for the construction of a Russian Orthodox church on an adjacent plot of land, but the devel- opment never took place. The case officer had recommended a refusal of this permit. Fekruna Bay expropriation Raymond Vella was awarded a €4.3 million land swap in a compensation deal brokered just four days before the 2013 general elections. Jason Azzopardi said that the gov- ernment had taken a decision to re- move the eyesore constituted by the derelict structures of the Mare d'Oro restaurant "by offering compensa- tion to the owners with land which had a similar value". It was two awkward planning deci- sions taken by past Nationalist ad- ministrations in 1988 and 2006 that raised the stakes in favour of the de- veloper in his bid for compensation, after the second Gonzi administra- tion decided to reclaim the bay. It was these planning decisions that increased the value of the land and bolstered the owners' compensation claim. Raymond Vella had bought a sub- stantial part of the land in Fekruna from Cerkes Limited in 1987, while another part was leased to it from the government in 1993 and redeemed in 2007. The fate of Fekruna Bay was ef- fectively sealed in 1988, when the area that included Vella's lido was earmarked for "villa development" in the 1988 temporary provision scheme, issued by then planning minister Michael Falzon. The lido was then a site for numer- ous protests by residents and Green Party Alternattiva Demokratika, who demanded free public access to Fekruna Bay in the 1990s. Subse- quently, the most ecologically sensi- tive area was scheduled by the Plan- ning Authority in June 1996. The PA consequently refused an application by Vella to build two vil- las on the bay in 1998. Another ap- plication for a diving centre in 2003 was then refused by MEPA's devel- opment control committee, and that same year, Vella asked for permis- sion to demolish the restaurant and build residential units. The applica- tion was left pending and was never approved. The North West Local Plan, pub- lished in 2001, listed Fekruna Bay as a protected site and redefined the development boundary set in 1988 to exclude Fekruna Bay from any future development. But Vella instituted proceedings in the Constitutional Court for com- pensation, and MEPA shelved its decision to exclude the site from de- velopment zones. And instead of correcting the 1988 mistake – which effectively inserted the site in development zones – the 2006 local plans earmarked the area for possible development. The local plan approved by minis- ter George Pullicino permitted the site to have a food and drink outlet, beach amenities and a retail outlet, as well as residential development limited to 30% of the total floor space on site, while retaining public access to the coast. The local plan claimed its policy aims were set up to ensure that any future development "retains the pri- mary use of a leisure coastal facility" but that even some residential units could be accepted if separated from the leisure uses. Vella's application to develop the site however remained pending over the next few years. Then in 2008, elected on a platform to restrain overdevelopment, the Gonzi administration was less keen on alienating residents in the area by allowing any further development on this site. So in November 2010, MEPA is- sued an enforcement order on the derelict site of the Mare d'Oro res- taurant in the picturesque Fekruna Bay in St Paul's Bay. On 4 March, the expropriation of the land for a "public purpose" was announced in the government ga- zette. An agreement giving compen- sation to the owners was signed a day later. Works on the demolition of the restaurant started immediately and were reported on the Times of Malta on polling day. jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt A dozen villas for Fekruna's compensation land Voluntary Jurisdiction Section Application of Vincent Micallef, transport assistant, son of Joseph and Felicia nee Camilleri, born Pieta and residing 20, Sundowners, Saint Aristarcus Street, Rabat, Malta, holder of identity card number 321163 (M). Pleads with respect That Pia Sant Sant daughter of Paul died on 12 November, 2011. That by decree number 11/2013 he was appointed executor of the estate of the deceased Pia Sant (vide document A annexed). That under the fourth article of the will of the deceased published in the acts of Notary Doctor Mario Bugeja of 24 March 1998, the testatrix ordered the following:- ' The testatrix nominates as universal heirs and absolute owners of all her property Vincent Micallef , Antoinette wife of Vincent Micallef , for one sixth ( 1/6 ) undivided part between them John Paul Sant and Tommy Sant , both sons of the testatrix's brother Paul Sant , Josephine , Charles and Rose Marie , children of the testatrix sister that is Josephine , for one sixth ( 1/6 ) undivided each, with subsitio volgaris in favour of their children in case of predecease and if there are no children with right of accretion between them. The testatrix is ordering that in case within four months from her death these heirs have not made contact with the executor below mentioned they will lose any benefits arising from this will and the property will be inherited by those heirs who are in contact with the testamentary executor . ( Vide document 'B' attached ) . That three of the designated heirs that is Tommy Sant and John Paul Sant, both sons of the testatrix brother Paul Sant , and Charles son of the testatrix sister Josephine for sixth ( 1/6 ) undivided each, to date never approached the testamentary executor not even the two other heirs who are living in England about the share they inherited and the testamentary executor and the other heirs can not find them anywhere to assign to them their share. According to the will their share should be assigned onto on the other heirs . Therefore the applicant requests this Honorable Court to transfer the shares of John Paul Sant , Tommy Sant and Charles on the other heirs and this under those provisions that this Honourable Court may deem appropriate . Dr . Mario Bugeja LL.D. , 117, Saint Paul Street , Zurrieq Twelve villas proposed on land granted to compensate expropriated Fekruna owners PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD