The historic customs house in Jaffa Port will be demolished, according to a decision handed down today by the Supreme Court. Planning authorities previously removed the structure from the list of buildings marked for preservation, thereby paving the way to changing the appearance of the port. The Society for the Preservation of Historical Sites sought to change the decision and petitioned the Supreme Court, but its petition was dismissed.
The building, constructed in the 1930s, was used as the first passenger terminal during the British Mandate period. It is known for its contrast with the landscape, being located next to the sea, and for housing the Sea Scouts. The building was marked for preservation as a historic building in 2003 in National Outline Plan 2/13, and later in a detailed plan for Jaffa Port that went into effect in March 2007. At a later stage, however, the Tel Aviv municipality chose to reverse this status in order to demolish the building and expand the northern entrance to the port and create continuity for users of the nearby seaside promenade.
The National Planning and Building Commission decided two and a half years ago, following discussions, to accept the recommendation to eliminate the building's preservation status and return the decision to the government. The National Planning and Building Commission wrote at the time, "There is no significant advantage in preserving the new building… especially when according to the municipality's proposal and in accordance with the documentation file, the stairs and the pier on the Ottoman building's foundation floor will be preserved."
The minister of environmental protection was also opposed
In January 2017, the government discussed the plan in the framework of the housing cabinet and decided to approve changing the building's status. An appeal by Minister of Environmental Protection and Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Ze'ev Elkin, who opposed the plan, was rejected in June and the plan was approved, resulting in a petition to the Supreme Court by the Society for the Preservation of Historical Sites against all of the agencies that took action to eliminate the building's preservation status.
In its ruling today, the Court dismissed the petition against the National Planning and Building Commission, the government, and the Tel Aviv municipality. "We found that supporters of the 'let the old give way to the new' had the better of it, and the responsible authorities all approved the buildings' demolition. When the dispute was decided by the authorized agencies following a thorough and comprehensive discussion in favor of one of the reasonable alternatives, there are no grounds justifying judicial intervention in the decision made," wrote Justice Ofer Grosskopf.
"The government decision to remove the building from the list was taken in accordance with the recommendation by the National Planning and Building Commission and the Protection of the Coastal Environment Committee," and eventually adopted by government decision following the filing of an appeal by the minister of environmental protection. Under these circumstances, in which the highest planning institutions are the ones that approved the decision, following examination of all of the relevant considerations, I was not convinced that there were any grounds for intervening in their decision," wrote Justice Yosef Elron.
"There is reason to reconsider the decision"
In a minority opinion, Justice Uzi Vogelman wrote that the ruling should be reconsidered. "In my view, the question of the plan's fairness justifies additional consideration," he wrote, adding, "I personally do not believe that a yes or no ruling is necessary in the case. It is possible that in the tension between the conflicting interests, complete protection should not be given to either of them, with the other interest being denied any protection. In this case, it appears that such a decision in the end caused complete neglect of the preservation interest in the final result."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on January 23, 2019
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