A shock to urban renewal in Haifa: Mayor Kalish Rotem is demanding an improvement levy of up to 50% in Pinoy Binui complexes, according to the Association of Contractors and Builders of the Land.
in the Contractors Association They claim that this was done contrary to previous promises by the Haifa Municipality backed by a government decision that no improvement levies would be collected.
The chairman of the contractors' organization Haim Feiglin: "This is a fraud, dozens of projects with thousands of apartments in danger that went down the drain."
An earthquake in the field of urban renewal in the city of Haifa: Haifa Mayor Einat Kalish Rotem, and city engineer architect Ariel Waterman, are demanding an improvement levy of up to 50% on evacuation complexes that have been promoted for years - and this despite the fact that dozens of complexes with thousands of apartments are already in the planning and execution stages are moving forward and have been assured by the Haifa municipality that no improvement levy will be required for them.
We note that the new Settlements Law, which is specifically aimed at encouraging urban renewal, allows the municipalities to determine the amount of the improvement levies until May of this year, according to division into regions and at rates of 0, 25 or 50 percent.
At the same time, many municipalities in the country chose not to impose improvement levies in order to encourage urban renewal in their area, but the Haifa Municipality decided otherwise - and presented at the city council meeting the policy document according to which in the urban renewal complexes in the city there will be a payment for improvement according to areas. In doing so, the Haifa municipality ignores explicit governmental promises given to both the apartment owners and developers, including in projects promoted by the municipality itself.
Haim Feiglin, chairman of the Haifa District Contractors Association and vice president of the Association of Contractors Building Ha'aretz, commented on the following:
This is a real scam. Both the tenants and the entrepreneurs in the Binui eviction complexes in the city were based on the promises of the municipality, some of which were also backed up by an explicit government decision, to provide a full exemption from the improvement levies. In light of this, the engagements were made, plans were designed and many resources of dozens of architects, engineers and consultants were invested over the years. All these resources are now in danger of going down the drain. Even without improvement levies, the housing market in Haifa falters compared to most districts in the country and we are not at the peak of economic viability in terms of apartment prices. A decision to impose improvement levies at a rate of 50% will hinder the implementation of most projects for urban renewal within the city limits, and some projects cannot even carry a levy at a rate of 25%.
"We will not pay a 50% improvement levy"
"In any case," continued Feiglin, "we will not pay 50% of the improvement levies in the construction removal projects in Haifa and will fight this event in every planning and even judicial court. I recommend that the Haifa municipality take an example of proper municipal conduct from Jerusalem and the Ono case where they grant a full exemption from the improvement levies in the projects of Urban renewal to support the realization of these important projects."
The tenants are also upset and claim that the municipality is thwarting its own initiative with its own hands. "It is impossible to treat tenants with such disdain," said the tenants' representative.
The Municipality of Haifa refused to comment, and chose not to respond to the allegations made against it.
The developers who have made a handsome profit on the construction until now do not want to reduce their profits and are crying to the council of contempt for this and are actually hurting the residents of the city... and the residents of the city who are crying with the contractors are only promoting the agenda of the contractors and not the agenda of the city. Then they complain that there is no proper plumbing and there is no cleanliness in the street... But it happens that there is no money that goes to the municipality from these entrepreneurs, only money from the residents to the entrepreneurs...
Look at the building at 24 Ovadia Street in Haifa. This is a building that had a beautiful and green front garden, away from the street. Look at the illusory monster that the contractor built with an elevator protruding all the way to the sidewalk. What ugliness. Not even two meters of grass were left. Everything is concrete concrete. The building looks bent over the street, threatening the street. Sticks into it, bites out of it. Crouched, violent, inconsiderate construction. It's good that the sidewalk was not taken away from the pedestrians and handed over to the contractor. Maybe so, who knows with this Waterman. What an ugliness of Tama 38. Really creates monsters.
With all the reliefs together and all the envelopes, a municipality cannot approve more than 7 floors above ground level. all included. Including a parking floor if it is not entirely underground.
Now count the floors in Ovadia 24. How much did it turn out?