Filenews 7 May 2023 - by Angelos Nicolaou
Leptos Calypso Hotels Public Ltd is planning three tall buildings of 6, 7 and 8 floors, worth €45 million, on the site of the Coral Beach Hotel & Resort in the Municipality of Pegeia.
The environmental impact of the project is currently being examined by the Environmental Authority. According to the Environmental Impact Assessment Study (EIA), the proposed works at the hotel concern the addition of new rooms at the Coral Beach Hotel, the addition of one floor to two existing buildings of the complex and the construction of three new buildings of 6, 7 and 8 floors.
For this development, there is a valid planning permit that already provides for the construction of the three existing buildings, as well as four other buildings not yet constructed (with a total capacity of 1,176 beds), as well as external works and other facilities. Essentially, the new application requests the modification of the licensed part of the development that has not yet been implemented.
Based on the MEEP, the four licensed but non-constructed buildings are replaced with three buildings and the already licensed 1,176 hotel beds are increased to 1,370 beds. The additions include 96 new hotel beds (addition of one floor of approximately 3.5 m height) in two existing buildings of approximately 34 m and 37 m height), 194 apartments (three new buildings), underground parking spaces, restaurants, shops, health/wellness centre, swimming pools, upgrading of the biological station and other auxiliary uses and common areas.
According to the "Pafos Local Plan (2021)" these plots fall within Tourist Zones T2b and T3e1. Various individual uses of the existing building are located within the defined beach protection zone, but no new constructions are expected to be implemented within the beach protection zone.
Coral Bay Street is the development's main access from its northwestern border. The proposed plot abuts the "Argaki tou Katsiris" and at a distance of about 290 m. and 700 m. from the plots of this development are located the "Argaki tou Agridiou" and the "Argaki tou Killed", respectively. The nearest houses are about 125 m away.
In the wider area of the project is the prehistoric settlement of Maa – Palaiokastro, which is a visitable archaeological site. Within the growing area there are ornamental trees and shrubs, as well as wild vegetation. The entire project falls within a designated controlled area of antiquities. The Department of Antiquities, in a letter to the Department of Environment dated 7/3/2023, referring to the height of the buildings, asked for compliance with the regulations provided for this urban zone.
At the same time, mistakes, omissions and oversights of the past when granting planning permits to Leptos are highlighted through the letter of the Municipality of Pegeia to the Department of Town Planning. According to the Municipality of Pegeia, such practices must be stopped and the necessary solutions and regulations must be found, both to avoid repeating the same mistakes and to correct as much as possible mistakes of the past, by imposing the necessary conditions when granting new planning permits, so as to restore legality in the area and remove the prevailing feeling of gratuitous provisions.
Commenting on the response of the Department of Town Planning to the Audit Office, regarding the request for additions to the Coral Beach and Resort Hotel, the Municipality of Pegeia also refers to the issue of the concession and wonders why the issue of the concession of a public green space by the Department of Town Planning was not answered. The Municipality of Pegeia records a series of other building permits (a total of six cases) granted at the same time in the wider area of Coral Bay, noting that all of them required the concession of public green space.
Furthermore, in the same letter, the Municipality of Pegeia disagrees with the position of the Department of Town Planning on the fact that it was not required to create a ramp and disabled access to the vertical pedestrian streets, on the grounds that there is a strong altitude difference, which makes smooth access impossible and what is mentioned does not correspond to reality.
The Municipality of Pegeia also raises questions in relation to the exceeding of the height of the floors, while the application for planning permission requires the agreement of the local authority in order to be approved and points out that it expects to receive convincing answers.
