By Zafrir Rinat | Dec.12, 2012

National Planning and Building Committee decides to slow down the approval process following stiff opposition from the Environmental Protection Ministry and local government heads, who say it would harm green spaces in the crowded center of the country.

The planning authorities have stymied the Interior Ministry’s attempt to rush through the approval of building plans in open spaces.

Following stiff opposition from the Environmental Protection Ministry and local government heads, the National Planning and Building Committee decided Tuesday to slow down the approval process. It’s conferring with planning committees at the local and district levels and with the Union of Local Authorities in Israel, as is standard procedure in approving building plans.

This blocks the Interior Ministry’s Planning Administration’s attempt to complete the process Tuesday and send the plans to the national committee after only one session.

The Interior Ministry’s plan would allow expanding built-up areas in the center of the country into open spaces not included in National Master Plan 35, letting another 80,000 housing units be built and reaching the government’s target.

Environmental organizations and the Union of Local Authorities attacked the Planning Administration’s ideas, saying they would harm green spaces in the crowded center of the country.

MK Dov Khenin (Hadash ) asked the state comptroller on Tuesday to stop the approval process for the changes endorsed by the Planning Administration. He said the administration’s ideas do not follow proper planning processes and would disturb the balance between the need for homes, nature protection and safeguarded open spaces for recreation.

Following the criticism, the National Planning and Building Committee referred the plans to the local and district planning and building committees.

The Planning Administration says its plans do not harm open spaces and the landscape, and only refer to areas in urban areas under National Master Plan 35. Officials at the administration said the changes would allow construction on military bases that will be evacuated and industrial areas that will be rezoned as residential areas.

For example, a housing complex can be built on the Sirkin base in the Petah Tikva area after its operations have been moved south. And residential areas can be developed next to industrial zones in cities such as Ra’anana, Rishon Letzion and Petah Tikva.

But these claims ignore that the Planning Administration itself said it’s possible to expand urban construction into land previously zoned as rural landscapes or city recreation areas.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/planning-authorities-block-interior-ministry-s-attempt-to-speed-up-construction-in-israel-s-green-areas.premium-1.484221