Urban renewal in crisis 23/4/22
The Haifa City Council decided this evening at a special meeting that the improvement levy in Haifa will be 25% and in Carmel 50%. The city council determined that two projects should be excluded from this - one in Kiryat Haim and the other in Carmel French. In doing so, the city council reversed the decision made 10 days ago, in which it was determined that there would be no improvement levy at all in the city's neighborhoods (except in the Carmel Ridge). Klish voted against the proposal, because she wanted to lower the improvement levy in the weak neighborhoods to 0%, but welcomed the fact that the levy would increase from 0% (as determined by the Change Council at the previous meeting)
Watch during the discussion on the improvement levy:
The result of the vote on the improvement levy - Klish voted against
Bad business results in the field of urban renewal
As you remember, last week we published the painful statistic here - in 2021, not a single building permit was issued in Haifa under the taxation route.
The improvement levy and the profitability of the projects
According to experts, there is no problem with taking the improvement levy and it even contributes to urban renewal, provided that the municipality gives other options to the developer, in order for the project to be profitable. In some cities in Israel this is done by adding floors and in some cities they do it by adding more space. In Haifa, Klish limited construction to height, created a substantial barrier to the profitability of the projects and the result is that the projects in the taxation track are simply not carried out and some entrepreneurs declare that they migrate to other cities to run their businesses.
The logic of the improvement levy
Mayor Dr. Einat Kalish Rotem asked to convene the meeting tonight in order to make the change since she believed that it would not be possible to do urban renewal projects if the developer did not take on the economic cost of the environmental development required in these projects.
The intention is that the developer can do a building evacuation project, but someone has to finance the schools, a drop of milk, the roads, the sewers, etc. and if the developer does not pay the improvement levy, it is not clear who will bear these payments. On the other hand, in the cities where no improvement levy was established, the intention was to encourage developers to take neighborhoods, which yearn for urban renewal, and renew the houses that tend to fall down in the neighborhood.
The improvement levy is not the only payment, which is imposed on the developer, so the rationale is to encourage the developer to renew old and dangerous residential neighborhoods by 0% improvement levy. As mentioned, at the end of the meeting on the issue of Kalish Rotam said, in her opinion, the decision is destructive to the city and therefore another meeting on the issue was scheduled. The Ministry of the Interior has determined that each of the cities in Israel must make a decision regarding the amount of the improvement levy in its territory, which will be in effect for the next 5 years and hence the importance of the decision.
The Community Council: A 25% improvement levy should be imposed throughout the city except in the Carmel Ridge
At today's meeting, the members of the Community Council said that they propose to impose a 25% improvement levy in accordance with the Settlements Law, except for the Carmel Ridge. "We propose to establish that the amount of the improvement levy that will be determined for all the areas of the city that are colored on the map (including Neve Shanan and Romema neighborhoods) will be 25% as stipulated in the Law of Arrangements, except in the Carmel Ridge area where a 50% improvement levy will be imposed in urban renewal projects (neighborhoods on The axis of the ridge only from Dania, Begin, Einstein, Ahuza, Carmelia and Shambor, Kabvir and the old Carmel."
Sarit Golan Steinberg delivered to Lai Fah:
I welcome the passing of the decision of the change council, which is in line with our position that public tasks in the area of the lot should be deducted from the improvement. The excuses for the mayor are over. Now expect to see urban renewal plans across the city.
Full exemption from the improvement levy in building construction
"In urban renewal plans of densification (and not demolition) a full exemption from the improvement levy will be granted.
In order to encourage urban renewal, the Change Council reiterates its position that the developers will be assigned public duties in the area of the lot and which will be offset from the improvement levy in accordance with the wording proposed by the professional team.
Public tasks in the area of the lot, which will be offset by the improvement, will be approved, both within the framework of the approval of the plan by the local committee and within the framework of the city council. We will all hope that this will open the door to a faster promotion of urban renewal plans which will include an adjustment of the various construction multipliers according to the nature of the neighborhood.
The Change Council would like to thank the team of the City Engineer, Properties Division and the Urban Renewal Division who made the corrections in accordance with the comments of the Change Council members."
Avihu Han: I have been a member of the city council for almost a decade, I have never seen such a low point
The chairman of the Green faction in the city council, Avihu Han, used harsh words this evening, which he has never used before. In relation to the decision made this evening, to oblige the entrepreneurs to pay a 25% improvement levy in all the city's neighborhoods except in Carmel:
"The urban circus is breaking records, and the city is paying the price, this time the bill is 32 million NIS - money that will come from all of our property tax money and was supposed to be received from the Azorim real estate company.
This is money for the improvement levies that the real estate company is supposed to pay, money for development and infrastructure, and the city council, courtesy of the Change Council, decided to lower the percentage of the improvement levies.
The consolation is that at least the foolish, stupid decision to lower the improvement levies to zero percent was canceled - a decision that was made two weeks ago.
Once again the greens are the responsible adult in the city, and it is good that our proposal for a more balanced outline for the 25 percent improvement levies was accepted. But it was close, too close, to a total collapse of the city. In Ness, the Ministry of the Interior agreed to give us an extension to change the mistake and for further discussion. They could have also disagreed, and the city would have been stuck without funds for development, just because of egos and fights. I know things sometimes seem complex, percentages of improvement levies, but you don't have to be an engineer to see that the decisions made here are driven by political considerations.
In the meantime, people are obsessed with urban renewal, at least with 25 percent of the improvement levies we can promote transportation infrastructure, parking lots, schools, kindergartens, bike paths and more. I have been a council member for almost a decade, I have never seen such a low.
Mayor Einat Kalish Rotem: The city council accepted my proposal to include a 25% improvement levy throughout the city
"The Haifa City Council this evening accepted the recommendation of the mayor and the professional level members of the engineering administration to change the level of the improvement levies, which will be imposed on entrepreneurs in urban renewal projects throughout the city. According to the decision, a levy of 25 percent will be applied in all neighborhoods of the city, with the exception of the Carmel Ridge neighborhoods , in which the amount of the levy will be 50 percent.
The council also approved, in accordance with the recommendation of the professional level and the mayor, to exclude two condensation projects in which the improvement levy will not apply at all. One in the Mahal project in the West Kiryat Haim neighborhood, where construction has already begun, and the other in the French Carmel Slopes project and Shaprintak neighborhood, where the first construction permit is expected to be granted in the coming days. It was also decided that from now on the cost of the public tasks that will be required of the developer will be offset against the improvement. The city announced its decision from the beginning of the month, to grant an exemption from the improvement levy in most of the city's neighborhoods, with the exception of the Carmel Ridge neighborhoods.
Following the previous decision, which could have harmed the development of the city in the coming decade, the mayor decided to summon the members of the city council and reconvene the plenary session, with the aim of reversing the decision, which was indeed changed as stated this evening."
It's best to buy Zenshik eggs. There won't be any Binoy evacuation.. All the investors... you ate it.
I didn't understand anything from what happened here, yes, Hatali Hashabha, no, Hatali Hashabha, decide already, Mrs. Mayor. Why because he is relatively the most unequivocally sane character there is
I didn't understand anything about it, but so be it
The money launderer. Good Day
In fact, the improvement levy indicates that there are two cities that call Haifa: the prestigious Carmel Ridge with prices of 2 million NIS for second-hand apartments and 3 million for new ones. And there is all the rest of Haifa below it, and here no distinction was made between neighborhoods where the prices are half a million NIS lower than the ridge, such as the French Carmel, and other neighborhoods on the coastal plain where the prices are half the prices of the ridge.
There was room for a third level of the improvement levy, for example 30% in the other neighborhoods. But the difference in the levies illustrates the difference between the two cities of Haifa. Haifa of above and Haifa of below. Not just geographically, not just socio-economically. The gaps are not closing and are even widening due to a lack of investment both in the ridge neighborhoods and in the plain neighborhoods compared to apartment prices in the rest of the country. Which will bring contractors to simply ignore Haifa completely. It's an absurd situation where eviction of a building in Kiryat or Carmel Castle next to new neighborhoods is already more profitable for the construction companies.
I don't know who the responsible adult is or how the mayor claims they accepted her proposal but votes against it. In any case, indeed, Haifa is running like a circus until a mayor comes with a plan for how to unite Haifa of Ma'ale and Haifa of Down and how to produce development that will make the neighborhoods in the whole city better and stronger, just as Tel Aviv is more expensive than all its satellite cities, this is how the gap between Haifa should have been to its satellite cities, and it is closing down, which also marks the growth of the satellite cities but also the decline of Haifa due to the neglect of the neighborhoods of the coastal plain and the lack of development of public transportation and the insane Tama 38, which also harms the quality of life in the ridge neighborhoods.
The money laundromat, working overtime in greater Haifa.