Rishon LeZion Mayor Meir Nitzan declares, "IKEA will be built here. There's nothing to worry about. There's no reason in the world why an IKEA store won't be built here. 87.4% of the city's residents have said that they'll shop there."
In September, Tel Aviv Court for Administrative Affairs canceled the extraordinary rezoning permit for IKEA Israel and Gazit-Globe Ltd. (TASE: GLOB) at Ma’ayan Soreq in Rishon LeZion. The court overturned a decision by the regional planning and building commission’s appeals committee for the site, saying it had “flaws that verged on extreme unreasonableness.”
Earlier, the Rishon LeZion Local Planning and Building Commission and the municipality had granted a ten-year extraordinary rezoning permit for the site to mixed commercial and entertainment use, instead of light industry and workshops. The decision led to claims that the municipality was motivated by greed and a wish for hefty local property taxes.
Nitzan replies to the charges, "All this drivel is by people who don’t know what the city needs. A city needs jobs, and Rishon LeZion, which is a city with a young population, needs jobs, especially for women. This can be seen in Central Bureau of Statistics figures. Secondly, there is no doubt that the plan will generate tax revenues for the municipality, but that's not the main point. The Rishon LeZion municipality's budget is balanced and doesn’t need to seek money to save itself."
"Globes": Is there any basis to the claims by shop owners who oppose the building of an IKEA store and commercial complex on the grounds that it will hurt their business?
Nitzan: "It's all provocation. I've asked them to tell me who is really behind them. We're talking about real estate developers who don’t want to be revealed, some of whom are running businesses illegally on farmland."
In principle, does it seem right to you to issue an extraordinary permit for such a long period? Why not change the Urban Building Plan?
"The IKEA store in Netanya also operates under an extraordinary permit. Why is that still the case? I wouldn’t have minded going through the procedures to change the Urban Building Plan. If I didn’t have the Netanya precedent, I might not have approved it."
What are your residential plans for the city?
"It must be noted that a lot of plans are stuck at the regional planning and building commission. Soaring housing prices are severely hurting young couples, and I don’t like this. I hope that after talking with Minister of the Interior Meir Sheetrit, this problem will be solved. Rishon LeZion needs apartments for young couples and for people eligible for Ministry of Housing and Construction benefits. We plan for 20% of apartments in the city to be apartments larger than 140 square meters, and another 20% to be apartments smaller than 100 square meters for young couples, singles, and for empty nesters. The other 60% will be 100-140 square meters. Neighborhoods will have a mix of single house and apartment block of 4-14 stories. Each neighborhood will have 2,000 to 5,000 housing units.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 6, 2007
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2007