Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/376810
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 7 SEPTEMBER 2014 8 News Hotel heights policy: A new policy on hotel heights sends contradictory messages, banning high rise hotels on the edges of the development scheme, to protect the landscape, while exempting from the same rule key localities like St Paul's Bay and Mellieha in Malta, and Mgarr, Marsalforn and Xlendi in Gozo JAM ES DEBONO THE new policy on heights an- nounced by the government on Tuesday allows hotels in devel- opment zones and outside Urban Conservation Areas (UCAs) to seek permission for two additional storeys over and above height lim- its established in the local plans. It also allows stand-alone hotels in these areas to seek permission for any number of additional sto- reys but only if this is deemed ap- propriate by the Planning Author- ity. In May the government had al- ready approved a policy initiated by the previous governing allow- ing existing hotels in designated tourist areas to apply for an addi- tional two storeys. Now the policy has been wid- ened to all hotels and foresees landmark buildings which qualify for an addition of more than two storeys. Moreover the new policy applies to new hotels and not just to existing ones. One significant measure which could limit the impact of the new policy on the landscape is that this policy is not applicable to sites on the edge of Development Zones which are adjacent to "rural ar- eas". But this policy is rendered su- perfluous by the exemption of "designated tourism zone areas" from this rule. The exemption applies to tour- ism areas in northern Malta like Mellieha, and St Paul's Bay and Xlendi, Marsalforn and Mgarr in Gozo. All these localities border on pristine rural areas. Marsaxlokk and Birzebbugia, two other tourist zones, also bor- der on rural areas in the south. Hotels in St Julian's abutting on the ODZ foreshore may also benefit from the exemption. This means that ODZ areas, which are the least likely to see any tourist development in neighbouring vil- lages, are protected from the over- shadowing impact of development at the edge of development zones. New hotels to benefit too Significantly while originally the policy issued for public consulta- tion was to be restricted to already existing hotels, the approved poli- cy is applicable to new hotels. It was the Malta Hotels and Res- taurants Association which called on the government to extend the policy to new hotels. But this measure has also raised speculation that the new policy is meant to increase the value of government properties, which may be developed as hotels in the near future – on his part the par- liamentary secretary for planning and lands, Michael Falzon, has not excluded this but insisted that the policy is driven by other consid- erations, such as enabling existing hotels to reconstruct their facili- ties from scratch. Moreover new hotels erected in tourist areas may end up shadow- ing the foreshore or the surround- ing countryside when located at the edge of development zones. Interestingly while the new pol- icy does not apply to Urban Con- servation Areas, hotels shadowing these areas may still qualify for an additional two storeys or more in case of stand-alone hotels. Onus on the developer Surely the new policy does not give anyone an automatic right to increase hotel heights. In fact the policy lays the onus on the applicant to make the case for proposals in the context of an urban design study through envi- ronment impact assessments. "This will involve the evaluation of the relationship to the context, the effect on the skyline and over- shadowing, the architectural qual- ity, the microclimate and relation- ship to infrastructure". Yet conflicts are bound to result from any relaxation of height poli- cies. In its submissions on the new policy the Sliema council called for specific clauses precluding any additional hotel floors which re- sult in the shading of the coastline frequented by bathers. Similarly it also called for a compensation mechanism for residents whose solar panels are affected by such shading. "It has to be made clear that if a resident's solar panels are no longer functioning in view of shading, then the resident has to be compensated". Policy Babel? The new policy on hotel heights precedes the revision of local plans set for next year and the ap- proval of the Spatial Plan for the Environment and Development, which is set to replace the Struc- ture Plan as the highest planning law of the land. The government justifies the approval of a number of specific policies before setting an overall direction in the SPED as a reflec- tion of the present government's pro-active and pro business cre- dentials. "We are pro business and doers... We could not afford to do like our predecessors, sitting pretty and talk instead of work... and wait for another 10 years to pass for par- liament to approve the Strategic Plan on the Environment and De- velopment instead of addressing all the policy vacuums." This was parliamentary secretary Michael Falzon's reply to MaltaToday's questioning of the government's planning priorities. But these policy changes cov- ering areas ranging from hotel heights to fireworks factories, may well pre-condition the new structure plan in a certain direc- tion even before it is approved by parliament. Moreover devising new policies in the absence of an overall direc- tion may create even more confu- sion in the interpretation of dif- ferent policies. For example while the policy regulating tall and medium rise buildings bans any such develop- ment in Gozo, the policy regu- lating hotel heights may trigger applications for high or medium rises in Gozo. MEPA officials contend that an additional two storeys over and above local plan limits on existing hotels will not result in high-rise development. MEPA official Sylvio Farrugia contends that applications in Gozo will probably be limited to applications for an additional two storeys over existing hotels in Marsalforn and Xlendi. But standalone hotels in Gozo located within development zones and not located on ridges may still qualify for more than this addi- tional two storey increase. To this he replies that the new policy does not amount to an au- tomatic right to increase building heights and MEPA may still refuse developments on a case-by-case basis. Discriminatory regime? Another problem identified by the Kamra tal-Periti is that the hotel heights policy creates two planning regimes, one regulating hotels and another regulating all other developments. In May the KTP also blasted the discrimination between hotels and other developments. This is because hotels can benefit from height increases irrespective of whether these are surrounded by four streets or not. On the other hand, all other de- velopments have to be surrounded by four streets. MEPA has already in May approved a policy regulat- ing tall and medium rise build- ings. According to this policy regulat- ing medium and high rise develop- ment in general, only Mriehel, St Julian's, Gzira, Marsa, Tigne and 'We are pro business and doers... We could not afford to do like our predecessors, sitting pretty and talk instead of work... and wait for another 10 years to pass for parliament to approve the Strategic Plan on the Environment' Michael Falzon The new policy on hotel heights allows three categories of hotels to apply for height increases over and above the additional two storeys applicable for all hotels in the development zones and outside UCAs Parliamentary Secretary for planning Michael Falzon (front) and Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis