Dozens of objections to the Jerusalem ridge construction plan were submitted to the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Commission last Thursday. Objections were filed by the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI); Let the Animals Live; MKs Mickey Levy (Yesh Atid), Yael Cohen Paran (Hatenua), Dov Khenin (Joint List), Mossi Raz (Meretz), and Eytan Broshi (Labor); and Jerusalem City Council member Arieh King. More objections were filed by intellectuals and cultural figures, such as author Meir Shalev and photographer Alex Libek. One objection submitted was signed by 72 academics, scientists, lecturers, and scholars from universities all over the world.
The residents' committee in Kiryat Hayovel filed an objection alleging that the development of a new neighborhood on the Jerusalem ridge would be far more expensive than urban renewal in their neighborhood, and would render empty the promises that the supplementary housing units on the white ridge would be used to pay for urban renewal in Kiryat Hayovel.
The residents' committee calculated that the cost of the infrastructure per new housing unit on the white ridge would be NIS 380,000, based on the results of the auction on the Malha downslopes in Jerusalem, while the cost of the infrastructure per housing unit in urban renewal in Kiryat Hayovel would be only NIS 70,000, based on the TAMA 38 plan in the neighborhood. They say that the enormous public investment in white ridge development is unjustified.
The controversial plan, which was deposited for public objections last December, is located in southwestern Jerusalem between the Ora and Aminadav moshavs and the Kiryat Hayovel neighbhorhood in the Jerusalem hills. The area is currently occupied by forests planted in woods by the Jewish National Fund (JNF). Some of the area is Jerusalem's municipal jurisdiction and some is in the jurisdiction of the Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. The deposited plan rezones 840 dunam (210 acres) of land on the downslopes of the white ridge from agriculture, open public space, and forestry reserves to residences, offices, and commerce. A neighborhood with 5,250 housing units will be built, plus 300 hotel rooms and office and commercial space, parking, a filling station, and other uses.
The dispute concerning construction on the white ridge mainly concerns the site's environmental sensitivity and construction in open spaces, while the planning administration is concerned about a solution for the severe shortage of housing in Jerusalem, which is projected to worsen in the coming decades.
"The area in the plan is a living space and refuge for animals, especially large mammals, such as the Israeli gazelle, and is an essential wall of the ecological corridor along Nahal Refaim. This corridor is important for the movement of animals to and from good urban nature areas in Nahal Gilo and Nahal Kos," the SPNI's objection states. "This corridor has been continually squeezed in recent decades as a result of transportation infrastructure and other development, including the boundary obstacle. The area of the plan on the white ridge also functions as extremely environmentally important open space, because it is an especially important part of the underground collecting and tributary basin of springs in the area. The plan will destroy all of the area's historical environmental values: nature, landscape, and cultural heritage. It will deal a critical blow to the area's potential as an excellent place for hiking, recreation, and vacationing in nature." SPNI's objection adds that the annual 2,500 per year pace of building starts in the city does not justify invasion of open spaces.
"There is currently no doubt, given the environmental impact survey, that the plan will cause critical and irreversible damage to animals in the area of the plan and its surroundings, in addition to damaging the values of nature and vistas. It contravenes planning policy, which rules out expanding Jerusalem's built-up space to the west," the detailed objection filed by Let the Animals Live states. "There is also no doubt that the available stock of housing within the city's built-up areas is ample to meet the needs, or even greater. The sole justification for the plan offered is financial, not planning: the state can use allocation of construction rights in the plan to supplement the profits of contractors taking part in urban renewal projects. In other words, the plan is to be a source of money for the Ministry of Construction and Housing, while bypassing the state budget, and at the expense of the animals, the environment, and the coming generations. A temporary budget shortfall does not, however, justify taking important land away from the animals, damaging the sources of the springs that have been on the mountainside for thousands of years, and changing the face of the land for future generations." Let the Animals Live's objection, filed through Adv. Yossi Wolfson, asserts, "The plan entails cutting down most of the pine and cypress forests in the white ridge corridors. The area is populated by animals whose living space has already been greatly curtailed. The animals using the pine and cypress forests to be cut down will be damaged."
When the plan was deposited, the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Commission stated that it would hear and discuss every objection filed, and added, "We emphasize that preservation of open spaces is just as important to us as it is to SPNI, and we will do anything to protect them. At the same time, the open spaces inside Jerusalem are not enough to meet the need for housing in the coming years. As a Commission, we must strike a balance between developmental needs and the open spaces. Half of the housing units in the plan are designated for supplementary land that will facilitate renewal of older neighborhoods Kiryat Menachem and Kiryat HaYovel, where construction will extend the continuity of existing construction in order to minimize construction in open spaces. The plan is strongly oriented towards urbanism and sustainability, and includes multiple uses and a park and ride parking lot on the light railway line passing through the area of the plan.
"Before establishing the plan's boundaries, a comprehensive environmental survey was conducted by an inter-ministerial team, including a comprehensive project to trace the sources of the springs in the area. In order to protect the springs, a distance was maintained between the development area and the wellsprings and the White Valley."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on March 3, 2019
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