The Marker, Hadar Choresh, 06.10.2020

The decision on the future of urban renewal in Israel is awaiting some legislative changes - but the battle is actually taking place largely in the field of local authorities, which seek to reduce as much as possible the addition of housing units in their area. In recent days, the Administrative Court in Lod has intervened during a move by the Netanya Municipality , and has stopped a decision that could have completely canceled a huge project of about 1,000 housing units.

This is the Borochov-Rabbi Kook complex in the city, whose plan was approved for deposit by the local committee in February 2015. The petitioner, in this case, is one of the tenants, who will be represented by Adv. Reuven Franco. - We argued that the municipality's decision to reduce the rights retrospectively would lead to the cancellation of the entire project.

Under the plan, 236 old housing units are to be demolished in favor of the construction of 992 housing units. But about a year ago, the local committee in Netanya received independent status that allowed it to advance the plan itself (by virtue of Amendment 101 to the Planning and Building Law) and Netanya municipal engineer Erez Tal appeared before the district committee and announced the withdrawal of the plan and its return to the local committee.

Policy to limit benefits to tenants

The King Solomon-Rabbi Kook complex in Netanya is an area in the city center characterized by old houses with a low level of maintenance. The urban renewal plan, approved in 2007, includes a large area of ​​34.5 dunams on which 236 tiny immigrant apartments are currently being built in 2-3-story railway buildings. According to the approved renewal plan, in the first phase, 639 spacious new apartments were to be built in the area, of which 24 were penthouses in 11-17-storey towers.

Despite the approval of the plan, no entrepreneurs were found who expressed interest in its implementation and it remained on paper only. In an effort to stimulate the urban renewal initiative, the municipality approved another, more aggressive plan that yielded results: the new plan increased the number of housing units, added public spaces by raising the towers, and public spaces between them, and allocating public parking below public spaces. The total area of ​​the apartments was increased by 62% and their total number increased to 992.

In 2019, when the municipality returned the plan to the district committee, the municipality decided to re-examine its policy and set restrictions for tenants. Among other things, the municipality determined that the supplement for large apartments will be limited to only 12 square meters, and a minimum area of ​​60 square meters was determined (in accordance with Standard 21, which determines the economics of the plan).

The reduction in the number of apartments and their area as part of the urban renewal programs is intended to reduce the pressure on the municipal infrastructure, as a result of an uncontrolled increase in the number of residents. Some municipalities have even frozen plans for urban renewal on the grounds that the municipal infrastructure, and especially the education system, cannot meet the population growth without additional income that allows the necessary investments to be financed.

Adv. Reuven Franco Photo: Ronit / Studio La

Thus, in mid-2019, the municipality adopted a decision on the new policy of limiting benefits to tenants as part of urban renewal - but the decision also included a clause stating that it would not apply to plans already approved by the local committee.

At that time, the local committee had already approved plans for urban renewal amounting to tens of thousands of apartments, and in fact most of the plans for urban renewal in Netanya. Despite the decision to deviate from the plans approved by the municipality, residents awaiting the urban renewal plan have been notified that the plan will not be promoted because it does not comply with the new municipal policy regarding the consideration received by the tenants.

Developers: The contracts with the tenants have already been signed

The petition against the municipality was filed on behalf of one of the tenants, Aharon Tal. The developers argued in court that the eviction-construction plan could not be implemented under the new constraint on apartment space - since it would have no economic justification. They also noted that the contracts with the tenants had already been signed and reported to the tax authorities.

In court, the municipality explained that the plan could not be considered as a plan approved for the purpose of the exception, because it was drawn from the district committee before it was approved, and therefore does not exist as an approved plan. The municipality claimed that the plans deviated from the new policy were approved years ago, and the high returns promised to tenants were the reason for changing the policy. The municipality also claimed that the compensation of the areas promised by the developers to the tenants in the plan and approved by the local committee is even higher than the compensation of the areas in the plans approved in the past.

Netanya Municipality Photo: Ofer Vaknin

Following the petition, the Administrative Court in Lod overturned the decision of the Netanya Municipal Engineer to cancel the huge plan for urban renewal. Tal sought to revoke rights granted to a large addition of apartments in the project and additions of land to the apartment owners. The municipality informed the tenants that instead of the approved plan, the number of apartments will be limited according to standard (21) adopted after the plan was approved and the maximum area for the apartment will be limited to 12 square meters, after plans for much larger areas have been approved. Construction.

The court's decision may, in the municipality's estimation, affect a large number of urban renewal plans that have been approved in the past and the municipality has tried to change them in an administrative procedure without discussion in the planning committees. Another appeal that is expected to be received in Netanya concerns the limitations of at least one additional plan, Ramat Herzl, in which an additional 1,000 apartments are to be built in the urban renewal plan that has been delayed by the municipality. In a hearing held in court prior to the decision, the municipality argued that many complexes in the city are in a similar situation, and the decision to lift the restrictions on the petitioners may also apply to them.

A representative of the Netanya local committee, Adv. Mashal Sharabi, said that the decision to accept the petition could lead to "thwarting the committee's policy and leaving the complex without actually carrying out urban renewal."

Compromise between the desired and the common

In a legal hearing following the city engineer's decision to cancel the plan, it was agreed that the plan that received the final approval was the first plan, for 639 apartments. However, this plan proved to be uneconomic to implement and the municipality opposed the addition of the areas offered by the plan to the new apartments that will be handed over to the tenants ("the consideration for the tenants").

In his decision, Judge Oren Schwartz rejected the municipality's claim that the withdrawal of the plan from the district committee resulted in its expiration. "The city engineer's announcement does not indicate the archiving of the plan, but its withdrawal for the purpose of examining additional construction alternatives. It is quite possible that the background to this planning move is the planning comments received at the District Planning Bureau meeting," Schwartz said.

The judge noted that even in discussions with the tenants' representative, Advocate Franco, the municipality did not claim that the plan had expired - but only hung the non-promotion of the plan on delays by the government authority for urban renewal.

According to the decision, only the local committee and not the city engineer can make the decision on the urban renewal plan, according to the first plan approved by the committee and its validity exists. "The solution may require some compromise between what is desired and what is found," Judge Schwartz ruled in a section in which tenants see an opening for negotiations on the new restrictions. The municipality and the local committee were charged with legal expenses - albeit in a relatively low amount of NIS 5,000.

The Netanya municipality refused to comment.