Ministry okays plan for neighborhood by sea between Tel Aviv and Herzliya
By Guy Liberman
After seven years of planning, Tel Aviv may be gaining a new neighborhood by the sea. The Tel Aviv District Planning Committee at the Interior Ministry yesterday approved the plan for the site, which had been prepared by the lower local planning committee.
The new master plan covers the development of a vast area between New Ramat Aviv, the Glilot intersection and the Colony Hotel in the city's north.
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The body behind the master plan is the city of Tel Aviv, and the Interior Ministry is the superior authority that approves (or doesn't). Filing the plan is a formal milestone, but it will still take five to ten years before the first tractor will break ground.
Plans start at the local authority, pass to the district one, after which the details are published for the public to voice objections, if any exist.
The master plan calls for up to 11,300 apartments, about 181,000 square meters of industrial space and 75,000 square meters of commercial space and public buildings. Sales are expected to run at about $4.5 billion for the developers.
The master plan's approval is the first step toward settling the knotty planning and ownership rights dispute that has kept the 1,900-dunam plot near the Sde Dov airport undeveloped. A multi-disciplinary team of city officials, including an architect, has been working on the issue for more than seven years.
The plan is based on housing surrounding public areas, including parks and community buildings. The apartment buildings will be up to 15 stories high, with the tallest located on the eastern edge of the plot in order not to block lower buildings' view of the sea. The plan includes development of about 500 dunams near coastal limestone cliffs, and a beachfront park that will preserve natural landscape elements.
The park is to be a continuum of the Tel Aviv boardwalk, and will eventually connect to the Herzliya marina. The plans also state that public use of the beachfront park will not be contingent on other sections of the project.
"The plan addresses complicated issues of urban development in a unique beachfront setting with multiple land owners," the planning team explains. "The plan is founded on creating an urban fabric similar to that south of the Yarkon river, and creating a wide beachfront of about 250 meters, unlike the narrow beachfront along Hayarkon and Kaufman streets."
City plans for the site include two north-south roads. One will be a continuation of Ibn Gvirol Street, and is planned as a main city street with commercial colonnades along both sides, and a light-rail track (the green line) down its center. The other north-south road, a narrow scenic route, will run alongside the beachfront park.
But the main problem facing the project is that the site is owned by multiple owners, including hundreds of private owners with small plots, a few companies, and even the Tel Aviv municipality, which owns a few hundred dunams there.
Objections to the plans can be expected to lengthen the process. Sectorsources believe it will be at least 10 years before construction begins.
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