Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/997322
12 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 24 JUNE 2018 NEWS • WANTED • LIVE-IN HOUSEKEEPER to work and live at the family residence in St Julian's. Responsible for all house chores including cleaning, shopping and gardening, maintain property and organise appointments for workers when required. Salary €750 monthly. Must be trustworthy, have a driving licence, able to communicate in English. Interested applicants must send a CV via e-mail to marlene.conti@yahoo.com TRANSPORT Malta has issued a call for bids for the design, construction and operation of a yacht marina in Marsaskala Bay. The development shall be limited to the "developed part of the existing coast around the bay", according to a minis- try spokesperson. "The rocky coastline will be protected and will remain in the public do- main," the spokesperson added. A breakwater will be required to reduce the intensity of wave action on inshore waters and provide safe harbourage of the marina and the area. The yacht marina will have an area with berths for the present boats, new berths and other an- cillary services. The prospective operator will be responsible to reorganise the current scat- Yacht marina for Marsaskala CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 which will construct the 12-storey extension to the Bay Street complex, was to evade an obligation to inform the Maltese archdiocese of the deal. Only the effective sale of land has to be communicated to the Archbishop to obtain permission to proceed with the disposal of land for non- pastoral, social or educational reasons. Indeed, the Church media was quick to report – days after MaltaToday broke news of the rental deal – that Arch- bishop Charles Scicluna was unaware of the deal. The Order's provincial, Fr Leslie Gatt, was asked about the obligation holy Orders have to communicate details of any land sales to the Arch- bishop. "The province was never interested in selling land but to rent it out. For that mat- ter there was no obligation of informing [the Archbishop]," Gatt answered when asked about the deliberate move to rent out the land instead of selling it. The land, currently being used as a makeshift car park, is to make way for a 12-sto- rey four-star accommodation building and office complex, that will be developed by Bay Street Holdings, whose own- ers include George Muscat of GAP Holdings, and Paul Camilleri. Although Fr Leslie Gatt has not revealed any details on the rental deal, the matter is now under the review of the Church's environment com- mission, on instruction of Archbishop Charles Scicluna, who acted on reports of Mal- taToday about the rental deal. Fr Gatt has also said there is no financial arrangement for the Order to benefit from the sale or otherwise of any of the units in the complex to be built. But now the Order has to contend with a legal challenge to its plans: because the Eden Leisure Group has submitted in court a contract it signed in 1988 with the Augustinians in which the Order bound itself to give the hoteliers right of first refusal should it transfer the land around the St Rita Church and monastery to any 'non-religious' third party. Indeed, it turns out that the Order was already in talks with the Eden Leisure Group, which was planning to buy the land abutting on its own bowling alley and cinema. In September 2017, the company learnt of plans by the Augustinians to transfer the land to another company, so it informed the province of whether it would be respect- ing Eden Leisure's right of first refusal. But, as emails filed in the court by Eden Leisure show, although the Augustinian Or- der "gave its word that none of its property would be transferred to third parties", a planning application to de- molish and excavate the park- ing lot was filed towards the end of 2017 by the new devel- opers. Eden Leisure said it only learnt later of the rental deal, protesting that it had not been given any notice of the plans so that it could exercise its right of first refusal. "The Order acted in bad faith with an evident breach of its ob- ligations as laid down in the contract… this bad faith is quite evident when one con- siders that the Order is deny- ing having held any discus- sions with Eden Leisure even though there is clear proof of this," the company told the court in a judicial protest. Indeed, emails from 12 De- cember 2017 reveal that the Order's representatives actu- ally denied having entered into any new obligations with a new company. The development will tower over St George's Road, and behind the monks' convent and St Rita Chapel. The site area is of some 2,260sq.m, and will include 246 under- ground parking spaces. Apart from its legal action, Simon Decesare, a member of the Eden Leisure Group, has filed an objection against the development because it is located in a residential buffer zone that is above the maxi- mum four-storey height al- lowed by current policies. He said the development would create a large, exposed blank party wall on St Augus- tine Street. "It also obstructs the view of the existing mon- astery on the adjacent site along Sqaq Lourdes. The same large exposed party wall is directly in front of the exist- ing hotel rooms forming part of the five-star InterConti- nental Hotel. This will have a large impact on our hotel." Decesare said current plan- ning policies precluded blank walls. "It will have a large impact on the area and will not serve as a buffer between the town and the entertainment centre of Paceville. On the contrary it is extending the hotel area and the entertainment area of Paceville adjacent to the resi- dential area." Restoration concerns Earlier in the month, the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage informed the Plan- ning Authority that the pro- posed development had to be referred to the PA's cultural heritage advisory committee. The development lies in the immediate vicinity of the Grade 2 scheduled property of architectural value – name- ly the convent of St Augustine and St Rita Chapel – while a recent permit approved the dismantling and reassembly of the scheduled staircase to the convent. During a joint site inspec- tion on 15 December 2017 by the Superintendence and advisory committee on the dismantling of the stairs, the developers' architect drew attention to the fact that the restoration of the scheduled Convent and Chapel also forms part of the wider scope of the project. "So far no application has been submitted for the resto- ration of the Scheduled Grade 2 religious building. It was not clear at the time of inspection as to what the 'project' was, which later materialised to be that of PA 10598/17. The pro- posed height and proximity of the development will dwarf the scheduled property and continue to detract it from its original context, further rescinding the heritage value of the property," the Superin- tendence warned. Indeed, the adjacent build- ings of the Eden cinema and bowling complex are con- structed at a lower level than the building height for the proposed development. "The building potential above the bowling complex shown in the 3D views sub- mitted has not yet been com- mitted. Consequently, the im- pact of the proposed towering structure on the scheduled property and open space will be greater," the Superintend- ence warned. mvella@mediatoday.com.mt Eden Leisure accuses monks of breaching contract