The new city of Harish will not be haredi (ultra-orthodox), after the National Planning and Building Commission decided on Monday that sections in the city's building plan which designated the city for the haredi community must be amended.
"All the planning documents that require and state that the city of Harish is designated solely for the haredi community must be reviewed and amended," stated the National Planning Commission. It also decided that the city program will include uses for non-haredim, eliminated the height restriction, and reset the maximum housing density of 8.5 per dunam as the minimum density.
Former Minister of Housing Ariel Atias of Shas, decided that Harish would be a haredi city, but the land tenders resulted in a different outcome. Although more than ten haredi associations bid to buy lots in the town, most of the bids were disqualified because they failed to meet the tenders' threshold conditions. As a result, most of the lots were sold to buyers groups comprising of national religious and secular homebuyers, and to contractors.
Massive construction is underway at Harish, and thousands of apartments are in the various licensing stages. Some of Israel's largest-ever buyers groups, comprising hundreds of homebuyers, were organized in the city, including Green Harish, and a group organized by Bemuna Ltd.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 19, 2014
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