Netanya: The "Banana" plan to build 3,500 units in the eastern part of the city will have to wait (Photo: ShutterStock)
In an unusual and courageous ruling by the Honorable Judge Oren Schwartz in the Central Administrative Court, the decision of the District Committee for Planning and Construction of the Central District, regarding the location of a public transportation terminal adjacent to the Neat Ganim neighborhood in Netanya, as part of the "Banana" plan for the addition of 3,500 housing units in the east of Netanya city, was annulled.
These are two petitions that were consolidated, one by the residents of the Neat Ganim neighborhood in Netanya, through attorney Eilat Hashar Michaeli, and the other by the developers Mozes & Co. through attorney Uri Daniel - and attacked the "wrong, arbitrary and extremely unreasonable" decision (as written in the petitions ) of the district committee regarding the location of the public transportation terminal in the "Banana" plan, adjacent to the Neot Ganim neighborhood in Netanya, without serious reasons or sufficient consideration, and while trying to reduce the harm to the residents of the neighborhood.
What is the story about?
The "Banana" plan is a plan for the establishment of a new neighborhood of 3,500 housing units in East Netanya, including a large metropolitan park, and which is based as a premise on the use of public transportation at a rate of 20% and later and in practice up to 40% and on the establishment of a public transportation system that includes a terminal and an overnight parking lot for buses, including crosswalks and bicycle paths.
From the beginning, the public transportation terminal was planned, according to coordination with the Municipality of Netanya, to the east of a planned bypass road that should connect between Highway 57 in the north and Highway 561 in the south. The same eastern location is located in the area designated for engineering facilities in Netanya's comprehensive plan, near a The electric company and at a distance of more than 100 m from residential neighborhoods.
However, as advocate Eilat Hashar Michaeli argued on behalf of the petitioners, just before the deposit of the plan, an abduction was carried out and voices were heard in the district committee stating that it was not possible to place the terminal to the east of that bypass road due to the limitations of the district plan, and therefore, with a wave of hands, the district committee determined to move the The terminal is on the western side of the planned bypass road, adjacent to the Neot Ganim neighborhood in Netanya.
This, despite the fact that in the examination conducted by Attorney Michaeli, it was found that there are no real claims against the eastern location, and in fact there is no impediment from a planning point of view to placing a public transportation terminal there, based on the national, district outline plans and even in terms of the comprehensive plan which is in advanced planning procedures. On the contrary, from an examination The plans and relying on opinions, it was found that from every planning and transportation point of view, the western location to which the terminal was moved, is significantly impaired and inferior compared to the eastern location, and does not even allow applicability or efficiency for operating the terminal there, in the present and in the future, given the proximity to the neighborhood and the limitations of the area. Not to mention the damage Among the residents of the old neighborhood are Neat Ganim.
Even during the objections stage, and despite the weighty claims of the petitioners, the district committee stuck to its decision to leave the terminal on the west side, next to the petitioners' neighborhood.
This, without serious reasons and without sufficient consideration, and while trying to somewhat reduce the harm to the residents of the neighborhood by an acoustic battery and limitations on the activity of the terminal, to the point of harming its efficiency.
Mayor Fierberg: "A mistake that must be corrected"
At the hearing of the petitions, the Municipality of Netanya and the Mayor of Netanya, Mrs. Miriam Fierberg, who appeared in court herself, along with the Netanya city engineer, expressed a firm position supporting the petitioners' claims, that changing the location of the terminal and moving it next to the neighborhood was a mistake that must be corrected.
The court accepted the petitioners' claims in full and stated that the deficiencies in the decision of the district committee regarding the terminal amount to an extreme improbability that mainly stems from making an administrative decision without an adequate database.
and that these unusual circumstances justify the intervention of the court and the return of the matter for further examination by the planning institution, subject to the standards established in the judgment.
The plan was not canceled, but the court ruled that if the district committee sees fit, it may suspend the actions required by the banana plan, until after a new decision is made regarding the terminal.
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The mayor of Netanya, Mrs. Miriam Feyerberg, supports the petitioners' claims (photo: official website, photo: Robbie Castro)
We will remind you that the Appeals Subcommittee of the National Planning and Construction Council, headed by Attorney Moran Brown, unanimously rejected on September 20, 2022 the appeals submitted by the Sharonim Regional Planning and Construction Committee, the Eben Yehuda local council and the Kadima Zoran local council, against the "recreation area" plan The Banana" in Netanya, thereby confirming the decision of the District Committee for Planning and Building a Center.
The main claim was in the transportation aspect, and it was claimed that "the plan allows the issuance of building permits for thousands of units and thousands of square meters for commerce and employment, while relying on the congested Route 57, Routes 2 and 4 which are in continuous traffic failure (F) with no solution for the short and/or long term, and future road 561 which is not at all clear when it will be built.
Despite what has been said, the plan was drawn up and promoted without proper preparation, without conducting a systemic transport impact assessment for the entire Sharon region, to examine the capacity of the existing roads to carry additional trips, and contrary to the position of the professional authorities.
The committee rejected all of the appellant's claims, concerning the lack of relevance of the BHT, or flaws in the data collected therein, and therefore there was no flaw in the district committee's decisions - neither at the deposit stage nor at the objections stage - regarding the lack of an appropriate factual (transportation) infrastructure or a deficiency in the collection of the relevant facts.
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Netanya