Sports center plan gets bloody nose

Residents held an emergency meeting and then issued a joint statement protesting the planned sports complex.

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
Residents of a neighborhoods on the summit and slopes of Mount Carmel have come out fighting against a planned new sports complex in southern Haifa, reports Yediot Haifa. The residents say the complex should not be built unless the city fixes the existing traffic problems on the roads leading down the mountain and opens new roads to cater for the expected increase in traffic the complex would bring about. According to the report, residents of neighborhoods including Ramat Eshkol, Ramat Golda, Ramat Begin-Soroka, Denia and Carmeliya held an emergency meeting and then issued a joint statement protesting the planned sports complex, which has been designed to house 30,000 spectators and to contain a commercial center and a 150-room hotel. A residents' representative said the complex would significantly harm their quality of life if no new roads were opened. The residents are planning to present their objections to the District Planning and Construction Committee. Environmental groups have also voiced concerns about the project. A municipal spokesman responded that the plans had been drawn up "by the best professionals in Israel and in the world," and even included a special roof to prevent noise from disturbing surrounding residents. The spokesman said that both the Ministry for Environmental Protection and the District Planning and Construction Committee had scrutinized the transport issue and had considered expected traffic movements in the plans. He said the complex would be directly along train and bus lines from the north and the south, which would limit the number of cars entering or leaving the area.