MEPA said this afternoon that its Board approved planning permission for the redevelopment of the former Mistra Village site in Xemxija. “The approved development has been considerably down-sized when compared to what had been approved and granted in the 2008 outline development permit.”
MEPA said that the “total residential ground floor area has been reduced by 20% and the project will now accommodate 744 units instead of 992 units. The approved project will also have a 20% reduction to the total retail area, while the built up areas assigned for restaurant facilities and amenities has been downsized by 50% and 37% respectively.”
During the processing and evaluation of this full development planning application, the Planning Directorate and the deciding body had to be guided by the planning parameters established in May 2008, when the Authority had granted an outline development permit for the site, MEPA said.
At the start of the session, the MEPA Chairman Perit Vincent Cassar informed the public that the MEPA Board had turned down a request that had been submitted earlier this week by Din l-Art Helwa for the revocation of the 2008 outline permit related to the redevelopment of Mistra Village.
The Board said that after evaluating the arguments presented by Din l-Art Helwa concluded that there were no legal grounds to proceed for the revocation of the outline permit in line with Article 77 of the Environment and Development Planning Act.
“Article 77 empowers the Authority to revoke or modify a planning permission ‘only in the cases of fraud or where public safety is concerned or where there is an error on the face of the record.’ The arguments presented by Din l-Art Helwa either go beyond the scope of invoking Article 77 as they relate to the interpretation of policy, or were addressed and considered by the MEPA Board back in 2008, prior to taking a decision,” MEPA said.
Photographs – MEPA: Top 2013 approved project and below, project as approved in 2008.