Calcalist, Shlomit Tzur, 10.12.2020
Bat Yam Municipality takes a step back: Suspends the policy of restrictions on NOP 38. In July, the municipality announced that it is adopting a policy that immediately reduces the economic feasibility of TAMA 38 projects, even those that have already applied for a permit. The municipality has now announced that the new policy will only apply to projects for which permit applications will be submitted from January 2021.
In October, the Bat Yam Entrepreneurs Association, which unites dozens of entrepreneurs working in the city, petitioned the Tel Aviv District Court against the city's planning and construction committee, demanding the cancellation of a policy document approved by the local committee in July. And to promote TAMA 38 projects throughout the city on a reinforcement route. According to the petitioners, the policy document was illegally approved by the committee, and it includes a series of illegal clauses that contradict a series of approved plans.
On July 2, the Bat Yam Local Planning and Construction Committee decided to approve a new policy that greatly reduces the economic viability of NOP 38 projects. Previous construction approved for buildings Although the policy document was approved in July, the committee decided to apply the new policy retroactively to applications submitted as early as January 1, 2020.
The petition, filed through Adv. Micha Gidron, alleges that the policy document introduced dramatic changes in the possibility of implementing TAMA 38 in Bat Yam, and was approved in a hurry and without being presented to the members of the Planning and Building Committee prior to the meeting. The petition further claims that many of the new policy paper sections are illegal because they seek to repeal valid plans, approved in 2017-2013 in order to enable and encourage the implementation of NOP 38 projects. These rights were revoked by the policy document approved in July.
Adv. Micha Gidron, represents the petitioners. "Substantial changes in the planning regime, without any public discussion"Photo: Humans
In an urgent update sent by the Bat Yam Local Planning and Building Committee to the Tel Aviv District Court following the developers' petition against it, the committee announced that the new policy would apply to permit applications submitted only from January 1, 2021. That there should be no change in policy regarding permit applications submitted before the new policy was published and based on an existing policy.
"The updated decision is an attempt to bring to the maximum transparency the guidelines for exercising the discretion of the local committee in a discussion of permit applications under NPA 38 that do not have rights at all," the local committee noted in a statement to the court. According to NAP 38 in recent years, and while balancing the needs of urban planning with the appropriate use of incentives that will enable the implementation of projects under NAP 38 ". The local committee asked the court to examine the petition in light of the new situation. .
Advocate Micha Gidron, representing the petitioners: "We are pleased that the local committee has canceled the retroactive application of the program, but we are not satisfied with moving the policy application date to the beginning of next year. We will ask the court to determine that the local committee can only apply policy documents that appear in the information file that went out to the project. This will provide planning certainty and prevent surprises from developers and contractors while promoting building permits.
"Local committees have often recently approved policy documents, especially in the area of urban renewal and the NOP. These documents often introduce substantial changes to the existing planning regime, without any public discussion and participation of those who might be harmed by the same policy. "In the case in question, the local committee approved a new policy in the field of exercising TAMA rights in Bat Yam that cancels dozens of projects in a jiffy, and more retroactively.