Nazareth Court for Administrative Affairs Deputy President Judge Nissim Y. Maman last week dismissed a petition by the Kiryat Shmona Local Planning and Building Commission and Adri-El Intitiation and Development Ltd. to void a permit granted by the Upper Galilee Local Planning and Building Commission licensing authority allowing Big Shopping Centers (2004) Ltd. (TASE:BIG) to build an 11,000-sq.m. shopping center in the Kiryat Shmona industrial zone outside the town.
Big applied to the Kiryat Shmona Local Planning Commission for a permit to demolish an existing commercial property on the site and build a new power center. The permit was granted in April.
The petitioners claimed that the building permit contravened developments plans for the region. Adri-El, which owns the Kiryat Shmona Mall and other commercial properties, also claimed that the building permit was illegal because it was granted by the licensing committee, not the planning and building authority.
Judge Maman ruled that, although the site was located in an industrial zone, the plan’s guidelines could be interpreted to allow for the construction of a shopping center, and that Big’s building permit was therefore valid.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on August 20, 2006
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