Shlomit Tzur, calcalist.co.il

The City of Tel Aviv is reducing condominiums for tenants in eviction projects, according to a municipal policy document expected to be discussed by the local Planning and Building Committee. The document includes guidance from the engineering department to members of the local committee regarding approval of evacuation plans throughout the city.

The stated purpose of the document is to increase the supply of small dwellings in the city and to leave the existing population, including a disadvantaged population, but in practice this policy is expected to undermine the incentive of apartment owners to enter into the difficult and prolonged process of promoting an urban renewal project.

According to the document, regarding 70 evacuation complexes defined in the outline plan, the local committee will approve projects according to a more modest key development than before: an existing apartment with up to 80 square meters will be added up to 12 square meters expressing the addition of a square meter; and the apartment There is an area of ​​more than 80 square meters, no consideration space will be added. It has also been determined that an existing apartment with an area of ​​less than 40 square meters may be allowed to increase the additional space for special reasons.

According to Deputy City Engineer Orly Arel, "The City of Tel Aviv supports increasing the supply of apartments in the city and much but supports small dwellings to allow existing population in buildings for urban renewal to remain in dwellings even after the realization of the projects. Urban renewal must not be frequented by those living in the city. Also, according to the population component, which must continue to include public housing, both the elderly and the disabled. "

"After examining the plans in accordance with the urban outline plan, Arel added that we discovered that the main problem was public areas. The more public spaces needed, the more public spaces needed. This means that where the residential areas are reduced, the public areas in the plan can be increased."

"Everyone benefits"

This is the first time that the Tel Aviv Municipality has defined rules regarding the area of ​​consideration for evacuation projects. In years past, the municipality approved plans with generous changes, such as the evacuation-construction projects implemented in the Neve Sharet neighborhood. But now the new policy could mean that the city's property owners are not in a hurry to renew their apartments, especially those larger than 80 square meters, of which not even one square meter should be added.

According to Arel, the amount of apartments over 80 square meters in the buildings designated for evacuation in the city is small, and in any case their owners are also expected to earn: "An apartment with an elevator and parking, its value jumps at least half a million shekels even without extra space. If the big apartment owners want extra space, be honored and put in a pocket. But in any case, most of the apartments in the evacuation buildings range from 80-40sqm. There are a number of limited neighborhoods whose apartments are smaller than 40sqm, and we ask the committee discretion to give more sqm for those apartments. "Improving the existing situation because the key to change gives developers certainty. Once there is an entrepreneurial policy, they cannot make baseless promises to tenants, and tenants cannot demand unrealistic demands from the developers, because everyone knows what the developer can get."

The policy document presented by the Engineering Division to the local committee includes additional principles, including the obligation on the local committee to conduct and examine a social appendix examining who currently lives in the apartments today, whether there is an agreed representation, whether the developer has tenants' signatures and whether they were obtained in the usual ways, Tenants, and if there is a sufficient supply for rent nearby and more.

In addition, the policy document requires developers to set up a capital fund in accordance with the social appendix, which will serve tenants who return to the project for ten years. This is to encourage the population to reside in the new apartments, whose maintenance costs are higher when the fund finances the differences. Those who put money into the capital fund will be an entrepreneur, who will be required to put this expense into his financial calculations.

Contractors fear

The document is strongly criticized by builders in the city, who say that prohibiting the addition of space to existing apartments will make it very difficult for them to promote evacuation projects. In a position paper recently submitted by the Tel Aviv District Contractors' Organization and the center, the organization wants to add 12 square meters to apartments larger than 80 square meters.

"We welcome the approval of the policy on the permutations, but the motivation of the tenants in the larger apartments must be increased, and the number of objections and hardship projects reduced," said Yehuda, the organization's chairman. They are a relatively small addition to the 12 sqm which gets a 40 sqm apartment. In our opinion, the municipality must share the public with the process and the impact of the policy on projects to be promoted. The concern is that the implementation of the policy without the City Council's tenants will effectively thwart initiatives and prevent urban renewal. "

Niv Rom, co-owner of Canaan Group, which promotes urban regeneration projects in the city, believes that the policy document will actually help to realize projects: Projects have been implemented and will not get stuck in the planning pipeline. The primary purpose for which urban renewal is promoted is to provide security and safety to apartment owners against the threat of rockets or earthquakes. If uniform policies make order and clarifications that shorten processes, everyone will benefit from it. "