15 year saga to rezone Tal-Mirakli green lung nears its end as apartment complexes loom

A 2012 planning control application for the rezoning of a massive 40,000sqm green lung in Lija, a predominantly agricultural pocket of land known as Tal-Mirakli, has elicited a handful of last-minute objections over the potential for new, low-lying villa developments on the site.

While the planning control application (PC/00052/12) does not propose new development, it changes the layout of the area, which in this case, was already listed for residential development in the Central Malta Local Plan approved in 2006 and under the 1988 Temporary Provisions Scheme.

The site is made up of several separate plots owned by different individuals, with two Maltese families owning historically protected villas that have been around for centuries – Villa Debono, which belongs to the Ganado family, and Villa Fort, which belongs to the Bianchi family.

Objectors argue that the planning control application will open up the pathway for future development applications in the area, which could pose a threat to heritage sites, the agricultural land itself, and expose the site to soil quality degradation while impinging on its protected status as an area of hydrological importance.

The rezoning process, which would effectively allow for the restricted development of tens of low-lying villas on sites which do not have any built-up footprint, would also curtail the possibility of the area being developed in the same manner as nearby apartment blocks.

Several residential blocks surrounding the site rise up to five storeys high, with blank walls jutting out of the otherwise relatively tranquil neighbourhood.

Besides adding new plots in the designated residential zones visible in the plans below, the site will be broken up with a central green corridor that will serve as a public open space. This open corridor would be kept free of dwellings and would include gardens, amenity areas and pedestrian paths.

The developable pockets are mostly arranged around the edges and along the proposed internal road network, with a larger central and north-eastern open area retained as landscaped or private open space.

Though the planning control application effectively imposes strict limits on what kind of development will be allowed in the future, the rezoning would allow for road formation, servicing, parking access and future residential occupation, significantly intensifying activity in the area.

While the long negotiation process between the relevant authorities and the landowners of the area has been going on for 15 years, a recent request for an amendment related to the peripheral sites marked A, C, D, and E on the design plans led to new objections being filed by concerned neighbours.

Currently, the proposed public open space in the middle of the site is a key condition that the applicant, Max Ganado, must complete as a requirement for the permit to be granted. The open landscaped buffer zones and amenity space must amount to 25% of the designated site.

The proposed amendment, which prompted objections, sought to exempt third parties who own plots A, C, D, and E from the same obligation to complete the open space corridor imposed on the applicant.

The planning control application remains pending further assessment by the relevant authorities.