Julia Ohayon , calcalist.co.il

Against the background of determining the date of expiry of TAMA 38 in October 2022, the area of ​​urban renewal as a pharmacy. Many questions arise regarding the alternative plan to be formulated and the lessons learned from the shortcomings of the existing plan to strengthen and protect buildings.

In the meantime, in recent weeks, members of the Subcommittee on Principal Planning Issues in the Planning Administration (WALA) have proposed a new outline that will include transitional provisions between the GDPR and the new plan. According to this outline, priority will be given to renewing entire complexes over individual construction projects, and the powers may be extended by the mayors to approve urban renewal plans in their city.

As a result, the powers of the local committees will be expanded, so that, among other things, they will be able to approve the involvement of commercial and public uses to the extent prescribed by law, as well as the expansion of roads and public areas and the consolidation of plots - powers that they did not have until today. In addition, for the first time, the authorities will be able to collect project levies on urban renewal projects.

The third way

So far, the possible tools for urban renewal have been TEMA 38 and evacuation-construction. TEMA 38 is usually applied to a single lot in the outline of reinforcement and additions or in the outline of demolition and construction. Evacuation-construction usually takes place on large complexes, and therefore it requires preparation of a BCA (city building plan) and its approval lies with the authority of the district committee. In practice, this is a rather cumbersome process that takes more than a decade to complete.

In general, it can be said that entrepreneurs prefer TAMA 38 ventures because they do not require long-term change of approval and approval processes. These projects allow relatively immediate construction and profit potential in the foreseeable future, with all it takes for the developer to issue a building permit. On the other hand, the authorities actually like evacuation-construction projects, since they deal with the public space adjacent to the project and sometimes include renovation of entire neighborhoods infrastructure. Another major advantage lies in the ability of the authorities to collect improvements and to allocate public space for the benefit of the project.

Following the lessons learned in recent years from these two key tools, various actors in the field of urban renewal are trying to shape and refine how urban renewal will take place in the future. In light of the ever-changing urban fabric, one of the proposals is an intermediate way that combines the advantages of TAMA 38 with those of evacuation-construction and may help both local authorities and entrepreneurs. This solution includes "small" evacuation-construction of several buildings in adjacent lots. At modest heights than is customary today, while allowing the local authority to levy land-use levies and expropriate territories, which it does not have the authority to do today.

Those leading and affiliated with this interim solution are architect Ruth Sharet, CEO and founder of Sharet Forum. In Sharett’s view, "You can take a group of plots and create a small-scale evacuation plan that includes fewer housing units than is currently the case in such projects. Which, of course, can also be promoted faster. The volume of projects will be smaller, which will be reflected in the height and density of the housing units.

"It should be borne in mind that currently the authority to approve the construction clearance construction is in the hands of the provincial committee. I propose that for projects of this kind, the developer is the one who will make a BNA. It will be a small BNA that will rule over a complex of several lots and 'spread' public areas according to the needs of the local authority. The approval of the IAA will be under the authority of the local committee, and in the meantime its powers will be expropriated for the limited evacuation-construction project. "

Reduce scope

The scale of evacuation-building plans now stands at least hundreds to thousands of housing units, and can reach much larger scale, such as in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood of Rehovot, where the plans are expected to be about 10,000 housing units.

"One of the arguments against the evacuation-construction route is that it is usually built to a height and builds dozens of towers, which require the establishment of infrastructure and extensive complex thinking, for all its derivatives and meanings," explains Sharett. "With a limited evacuation, it will be possible to reduce the volume of construction, reducing the number of residents in the complex and easing the burden on the infrastructure of the authority. In addition, the authorities will still be able to allocate areas for kindergartens, public gardens or any other public use that is usually needed in the area. Which makes them today opposed to projects. "

Ruti Sharett. "Balancing Authority Needs with Entrepreneurial Interest" Photo: Gal Hermoni

After two decades in which urban renewal has torn down and created a great deal of old and new construction in the heart of cities, Sharett believes that delegating authority to the local authorities is a reality: "Section 62A of the Planning and Building Law defines which issues are not within the authority of the local committee. To expropriate areas for public use to a certain extent from the size of the plan, i.e. areas that can be used for kindergartens, a drop of milk or synagogues. "

Therefore, Sharett positively considers parts of the new outline proposed by the Walloon Community. "If local authorities are empowered to expropriate certain restrictions, they will be able to promote urban renewal projects more quickly. It can also be balanced in various ways, for example by changing the majority of tenants needed for project approval. At any rate, this is a middle ground that offers compromise; Authorities will be able to appropriate land for public purposes, and the developers will be tasked with the preparation of the BUB, but these will be simpler and significantly smaller in scope. This way may create a balance between the needs of the Authority and the entrepreneurial interest, and it must be examined. "