Tel Aviv residents fight tower plans

The residents succeeded in persuading the Local Planning and Construction Committee to reject plans for the first building.

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
The residents of Tel Aviv's Neveh Tzedek and Florentine neighborhoods have won the first step in a battle to prevent a row of residential towers from being built in their area, reports the Hebrew weekly Yediot Tel Aviv. The residents succeeded in persuading the Local Planning and Construction Committee to reject plans for the first building, which would tower 30 stories above the mostly low-rise area. According to the report, about a year and a half ago the District Planning and Construction Committee first proposed creating a row of apartment towers along Jaffa Rd. and its continuation, Eilat Rd., from Nahalat Binyamin to Sderot Yerushalayim, and residents living nearby have been worried ever since. The residents say the towers would significantly harm their quality of life and their neighborhoods, causing overcrowding and traffic congestion and putting too much pressure on inadequate infrastructure. They also say the District Committee proposed the idea without sufficient discussion or consideration of the consequences, and without giving anyone a chance to object to the idea. But last week, the Local Planning and Construction Committee met to discuss plans for the first tower, and residents voiced their objections. They were joined by the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, which said the area was already suffering from a lack of green spaces and the plans left no room for any open land. The committee, headed by Deputy Mayor Arnon Giladi, accepted the objections and refused to approve the building. The report pointed out that on appeal the District Committee might well overturn the decision, but did not say whether an appeal has been lodged yet or when such an appeal might be heard.