A new proposal for the Jerma Palace Hotel site has received support from the Marsascala local council, which took a vote on the initial proposal earlier this week.

The Jerma hotel was built over five floors and had a total of 345 rooms. It closed down in March 2007.

The new proposal is for a 13-storey building housing a hotel, which reduces in height to seven storeys for apartments. The total developable area stands at 61,100sqm, however the proposal would see a building footprint of 7,000sqm. The proposal does not seem to have yet been submitted to the Planning Authority.

The site has seen many proposals over the years, each one smaller than the other. In the last legislature, originally three towers, the tallest being 44 floors were proposed. This was later changed, and the council was presented with two options one of which would have seen a 28-storey tower. Now however, plans seem to have changed again.

Marsascala Mayor Mario Calleja made it clear that the vote was on the principle of the development. “If they change something we will go against, we only agreed on the principle.”

He said that, from the information they were given, the plans include a lot of public space, and that public dominium was looked after. “From a developable footprint of 18,000 sqm they are only building 7,000 sqm.” He said that 60% of the site would be a hotel, and 40% would be residential apartments.

The vote saw only one person vote against, PN councillor Charlot Cassar. 

Cassar said that the vote was taken based on the letter received by architects representing the developers, and a PowerPoint presentation that was made to the council. He said that no impact studies were seen by the council.

Cassar has been very vocal in the past, stating that Jerma should be given back to the people and turned entirely into a public open space. 

Thus far it does not appear that any plans have been submitted to the Planning Authority.