The construction plan in Kikar Hamedina in Tel Aviv is still arousing opposition from residents of the area. While the construction plan has already been approved, a transportation solution that was to have been included in the plan - a tunnel under Kikar Medina - has been canceled, with traffic lights being placed there instead.
Residents in the area oppose the new solution, alleging that the Local Planning and Building Commission did not give them enough time to present their objections to it. The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel and additional opponents in the neighborhood are also objecting to the plan.
A document submitted to the Tel Aviv District Planning and Building Commission by some of the plan's opponents through the Naor-Gersht law firm alleges that the developers are seeking to increase the construction rights for the site, while at the same time canceling the transportation solution included in the original plan. The document describes "a substantial increase in the service space for residences - an additional 5,500 square meters for covered balconies… and more than NIS 19,000 square meters in additional main space for public buildings."
In their submission to the District Planning and Building Commission, the opponents wrote, "It is unthinkable and impossible in all respects for the developers of the plan to be left with excessive rights, and even to ask that these be substantially increased, when the obligation to build a traffic artery under Kikar Hamedina has not been fulfilled. Perusal of the minutes of the various committees that approved the plan and its changes over the years shows that no rights were granted without a transportation solution…
"Not only are they seeking to cancel the transportation solution to which they were originally committed, but they are seeking to increase their construction rights… more cars, more traffic jams. This entire load will have to pass through roads close to the neighborhood residents' homes. The plan being requested is unreasonable, and does not take the children and residents of the neighborhood into consideration. It will cause the residents of the neighborhood enormous damage, and constitutes a basic breach of the developers' undertaking."
The opponents of the plan also assert that the traffic load tests on which the plan is based are not up to date. "The only document on which the new plan relies with respect to the change in the transportation solution is a short report from 2014 (three years ago)… entitled 'A Feasibility Test for Arranging Kikar Hamedina without any Need for the Jabotinsky Tunnel.' This document does not assess, and does not purport to assess, the plan that was deposited… It does not assess the current plan - the location of the vehicle entrances to the underground parking lot, the resulting snarl, the consequences of canceling the tunnel, and the road system that will have to handle the thousands of vehicles choking Kikar Hamedina."
"Grave negligence"
The opponents warn the District Planning and Building Commission, "Since the Commission lacks professional infrastructure for changing and canceling previous decisions taken by exactly the same Commission, making a decision on an inadequate factual basis will constitute grave negligence and a breach of the duties of the Commission members."
The opponents also emphasize that if the plan is approved, they plan to sue the Commission for the decrease in the value of their homes under Section 197 of the Planning and Building Law.
A hearing on the objections by the District Planning and Building Commission is scheduled for early next month. The opponents claim that in the hearing at the Local Planning and Building Commission, despite the requirements, they were not allowed to express their opinion. Adv. Ophir Naor, a resident of the neighborhood and one of those objecting to the plan, added, "Long and itemized objections were made by 400 residents besides me, supported by the opinions of experts. They gave us five minutes to present the objection at the Local Planning and Building Commission, after an entire neighborhood organized, signed statements, and demonstrated extraordinary planning involvement, following which they simply drove us out of the meeting, because we would not agree to keep silent.
"This plan completely cancels the transportation solution promised to the residents in the existing plan, the tunnel solution, and in effect makes Kikar Hamedina a transportation intersection for over 3,000 parking places and hundreds of new housing units. Instead of the roundabout, we have been handed an enormous traffic intersection. We do not oppose construction, but such a substantial change is unacceptable without hearing the residents, while allotting only five minutes for form's sake, after which they threw us out of the meeting."
A representative of another group of opponents, who did not sign this document, but who also opposes cancelation of the tunnel, told "Globes" that the opponents were surprised at the Local Planning and Building Commission's attitude towards them. "We came to the Commission, and what we found out was shocking. They barely listened to us, and it looks like the developers got everything they asked for. No one disputes that building is allowed in Kikar Hamedina, but the question is what they build there."
"No transportation need"
"The current proposal," the representative says, "is to place four traffic lights instead of a tunnel. We think this is a scandal. We asked the Commission to show us on what basis, on what data, they decided to cancel the tunnel. We got no answer.
"We're opposed to the construction, but the plan has already been approved, so it's too late, but the problem of parking and transportation is something that has to change. This place, where the roundabout, which may be the largest in Israel, serves so many residents, is going to be destroyed."
The Tel Aviv municipality said in response, "In the past, the construction plan for Kikar Hamedina included three residential towers over a large shopping mall, and also a tunnel. In 2013, Plan 2500A, which replaced the commercial space with more residences and open space, was approved. As the planning progressed, the professional parties concluded, based on the up-to-date transportation reports, not as alleged, that there was no transportation need for a tunnel, and because the tunnel has a high urban cost, canceling it was recommended. At the residents' request, a number of meetings with their representatives took place, at which the development plans were presented, and comments were received, some of which were accommodated in the plan."
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on April 25, 2017
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2017