Amit Gazit, calcalist.co.il

The Herzliya municipality is demanding NIS 390 million worth of building rights in a huge program that promotes RMA (the Israel Lands Authority) northeast of the Seven Star Interchange, which is just one of its requirements as a prerequisite for promoting the so-called "Kiryat Shalom" program, Calcalist learned. A month ago, a researcher on behalf of the WMA (the National Planning and Building Committee of preferred housing complexes) heard the opposition of the municipality and other opponents of the plan, and on Wednesday, the WMA will hold a hearing in which the researcher will present its conclusions. The WMA can adopt or reject all or part of it.

The plan, which covers 180 acres, includes the addition of 1,650 apartments in seven 60-22-story towers. It also includes 200,000 sq.m. of offices and commercials, which will generate revenue for the municipality, as well as a new transport center with a bus terminal, which will replace the central station, a train station, a light rail link and the future metro line.

According to consolidation and distribution tables, the municipality does not have marketable building rights in the complex, but only plots intended for public purposes. The municipality claims it has five acres of land that it received in the 1960s from the community of Zion community in the area that at that time was designated for public purposes. According to a legal opinion presented by the municipality, and accepted by Herzliya Attorney General in 1997, the local authority is entitled to receive marketable building rights like private land, even if the area named for it was previously designated for public use.

According to the municipality's assessors, before the construction plan was approved, the municipality's land value was 14% of the entire complex's value. Following the approval of the plan, the entire complex will be worth NIS 2.7 billion, which is why Herzliya has negotiable rights worth NIS 387 million. These rights will come at the expense of the other landowners, the main one being the state, which holds construction rights valued at NIS 2.4 billion.

In addition, the municipality has set requirements in the area of ​​infrastructure, which are essential for all neighborhoods of the city. Among other things, it requires that the plan explicitly state that until such infrastructure projects are completed, no building permits will be issued for the plan. This indicates the lack of confidence between the municipality and the government, and the municipality's attempt to promote projects that are not in accordance with the government's priorities.

For example, she demands that the city connection to the Shafdan be completed and drainage and top runner management solutions be provided. She also donates the promotion of a skyscraper plan to the progress of transportation projects. In terms of housing volume, Herzliya requires that it be reduced by 10% to 1,500 apartments, as she promised to allow in the roof agreement she signed with PMI in January 2016.

The opposition of the municipality is difficult to explain because the program has been promoted for six years in cooperation with it. In March 2014, the Herzliya Local Committee plenum gave a green light to the program and even chose the name Kiryat Skim. This appears to be a fundamental objection to construction, as Mayor Moshe Pedelon is trying to block construction plans as much as possible, to the point of completing a petition against the construction of 3,000 apartments in the Apollonia complex.

A Herzliya official says: "If a local authority does not stand on its back legs in aspects of infrastructure, it will see the state dragging its feet. From now on, any future development in infrastructure will be established."

Herzliya Municipality said: "Most of the resistance concerns the height of the towers, the number of apartments and the assurance of the plan for the existence and implementation of infrastructure, as a condition for marketing and execution, as well as securing ancillary infrastructure approval."

Marmy said: "The desire to produce conditions that are not directly related to the apartments included in the program is harmful. PMI is investing billions in much needed infrastructure through the rooftop agreements and government ministries, regardless of program stipulations, which only lead to inefficient allocation of budgetary sources. "