Developers contemplating €32 million Villa Rosa buy
James Debono
Environmentalists and residents in Pembroke have raised the alarm over the sale of Villa Rosa in St George’s Bay, that could pave the way for a high-density conglomeration of apartment blocks and bungalows.
A few weeks ago Vic Bon, a company owned by the Camilleri family from Madliena, purchased Dolphin House and the Villa Rosa holiday complex from C.H. Bailey plc, for €2.3 million and €29 million respectively.
The owner, Anton Camilleri, has told MaltaToday that the company has yet to “sit around the table to decided what to do” with the land they have purchased.
But the Camilleris’ investment is not a leap in the dark: the local plan for the area, approved back in 2006, has already paved the way for the development of 15 bungalows in the Villa Rosa gardens, as well as high-density development on the partially developed southern and northern flanks of the site.
“We hope that we don’t see another Tigné in St George’s Bay and that any development will be low-key as befits this picturesque site which should be made more accessible to the public,” Alternattiva Demokratika chairperson Michael Briguglio told MaltaToday.
On their part, the developers are promising that any development taking place on the site “will make the area more beautiful than it is today”.
Development on this site is regulated by a policy enacted in the local plan which protects the upper gardens surrounding the scheduled villa from any development.
But the same plan foresees six-storey development, plus penthouse, on the southern edge of the site. The development will have to be terraced and stepped down to two floors on the St George’s Bay area and the Villa Rosa gardens. Four-storey development and a car park will also be permitted on the northern edge of the site.
The plan foresees the development of 15 bungalows of 170 square metres each, which should not exceed 25% of the site. The developers must also develop a landscaped and managed watercourse for storm water runoff.
The same plan safeguards access to a scheduled cave in the area, which cannot be encroached upon by development or excavations. The valley itself is a designated Special Area of Conservation (SAC).
The plan also allows two-storey development for catering and retail outlets – 50% of the site has to be landscaped, existing mature trees must be retained “where possible”, and the public be given access to this site. Absolutely no development is allowed within the existing upper gardens surrounding Villa Leonardo De Vinci, the villa inside the gardens, and only minor alterations are allowed on the villa itself.
The plan also proposes the partial or full pedestrianisation of the St George’s Bay area now that it is well connected to an arterial road.
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