(haipo) - A public participation conference on the construction of the planned hotel instead of the casino building in Bat Galim in Haifa was held on Wednesday 3/7/24 at 17:30 p.m. The conference was chaired by Sharit Golan, chairman of the subcommittee for planning and construction, together with Kirill Kartnik, a member of the city council who ran for mayor in the last elections, and with Ruthie Rapoport, director of the city planning department in the Haifa municipality, who presented the plan designed by the subcommittee of the local Haifa planning and construction committee.
Finished plan
At the conference, a variety of maps and construction plans were presented for the complex where the developers are interested in building a hotel, on the coastline of the sea in Bat Galim. The presentation shows that this is a plan that has been worked on for a considerable time and is in very advanced stages.
Here are the highlights of the program:
- Restoration of the casino building and its designation for conservation, with strict instructions for restoration according to the original structure and conditions that guarantee the restoration.
- Changing the zoning of the area for the purpose of building a hotel with 110 rooms.
- Combining the development of the building with the urban development of the promenade planned along the Rosenfeld wharf.
- Opening the area of the former pool complex to the public, with an easement to pass through the building without fences. Creating a back promenade that connects to the beach without separating walls.
- Inclusion of a transformation station serving the Bat Galim neighborhood in the project complex.
- Preservation of open public spaces in accordance with the approved planning - 400 square meters of open public space.
During the conference, many objections were raised to the program itself as well as to the way the conference was delivered, whose stated purpose is public participation. It is evident that the residents were extremely upset. They presented a variety of questions throughout the conference. The organizers answered the questions at the end of the meeting.
Inbal Yodfat-Naman, an activist of the "Waves Environment" forum, told Lahi Fe:
On Wednesday, a meeting was held to inform the public about the casino plan, which was initiated by Sharit Golan, the chairman of the local planning and construction committee. She found in front of her a determined group of residents. We reminded her that despite the ownership gap between an area and a public institution that is in the private hands of a developer, this is no reason to turn the area for a hotel without receiving adequate compensation for the public. We talked about the importance and the planning tools with which the municipality can ensure that the beach remains open and accessible to the entire Haifa public.
We reminded her of her role as the gatekeeper of this public interest. The meeting lasted for three hours and it seems that we managed to convince Sarit, if not of the correctness of our arguments, at least that we will not allow this plan to move forward in the dark. At the end of the meeting, Sarit's words sounded very encouraging to me, as a bystander, and I hope that the municipality will take the determined public that came and implement a real public participation procedure here.
Access to the beach is a charged issue
The main issue that concerns the residents is access to the beach. Residents fear that the coastline will be blocked by the planned tourism structure.
Ruthie Rapoport explained that according to the presented plan, the building does not completely block the coastline, because there are spaces between the hotel buildings that constitute access to the sea. Rapoport also added that there will be no fencing to the sea and there will be no fencing around the promenade in Bat Galim. Although Shruthi presented a variety of visualizations in which the approaches to the beach could be seen, the opponents complain that there is no commitment in the plan's instructions not to fence off the hotel area and that by the very fact of operating the complex as a private business, there is a reasonable fear that the operators will gradually block the approaches to the beach and create them only for hotel guests.
"What about the residents?"
Many residents suggested that the conference does not really constitute public participation, but an announcement to the public. Residents who participated in the conference said during the discussion that the organizers of the conference did not really come open to a discussion involving the residents, but only to update them on the plan, on which the entrepreneurs worked for a long time and which is presented as a finished product.
Sarit Golan answered that the meeting is being held as part of a discussion by a professional team and also to start implementing planning processes that are conducted with public transparency.
Aki Flexer, a resident of Bat Galim said at the conference:
"This is a project that will significantly affect all the residents of the neighborhood as well as all the passers-by on the urban sea front on the Bat Galim Promenade. The conference is not a public sharing, which is the first time you are presenting this program that was made a long time ago. When a finished product is served, then it is not public participation, but a hearing for the residents of Bat Galim.'
One of the residents asked: "Why are you here?"
Golan replied: "For the sake of making the program accessible to the public. We are formulating a recommendation from the professionals and a reference to the plan, and legitimate requests have been made to hear the residents.'
Land designation
One of the main claims raised by the residents during the discussion is the desire to designate the area for other uses that serve a wide public (such as a community center, a municipal museum or cafes and restaurants) and not a hotel that only serves its guests.
Sharit Golan responded to this claim that there is a fundamental mistake in the residents' understanding of who the land belongs to: "The plots designated for construction are privately owned. There is no possibility that the Haifa Municipality will purchase this plot from the developer and change its designation."
The following progress of the process
Ruthie Rapoport stated that a follow-up meeting is planned in a month (August 2024) and Golan added that she believes in transparency and therefore they would like to continue holding public participation meetings.
Where is the vision of the municipality?
The residents claimed that it is not evident that the Haifa municipality has a vision for the casino gem and it is difficult to understand how the plan serves the planning concept of the Bat Galim neighborhood and its waterfront. The residents also claimed that in other municipalities the developer has to work hard to succeed in achieving his wishes, but in the current situation the municipality is not fighting for its residents and has no vision - how to turn the casino into the gem it is.
Where will hotel guests park?
The residents claim that if a hotel with 110 rooms is built, it will be necessary to allow parking for a large number of vehicles that will arrive at the hotel gates. Since the hotel stands on a drying area and there is sea water under it, it is not possible to dig an underground parking lot there. Since this is the case, the problem of parking in the entire promenade area, which is already busy, will greatly increase.
The invitation to the conference was published by the residents' representatives:
The municipality of Haifa should do for the casino exactly what the municipality of Tel Aviv did for the dolphinarium.
The Municipality of Tel Aviv removed the hazard that was the dolphinarium, its area was transferred to the public domain and the landowners received replacement areas.
The difference here is that the mayor of Tel Aviv wants the best of the city
And Mayor Yahav wants the good of his friend Dankner's pockets.
There is no hotel in the world that can compare there
People will not be able to sleep with loud waves and terrible humidity.
What they want is a prestigious brothel "Days of Life" and rooms for the bride and groom and under a wedding and event hall every evening they will make noise outside that will ruin bathing at Bat Galim beach - they will play music at high decibels, speakers on the event surface and hundreds of guests will look for parking and all Bat Galim boulevards will be filled with cars We will talk in any available space.
What they want is to destroy the Bat Galim boardwalk and why are they allowed to build in the pool area which was a public area in general.
Those who are surprised that there is no public participation should remember who the mayor is, even in the first 15 years of his tenure there was no public participation. In the next five years we will see continued surrender to contractors, to capital. "What has been will be and there is nothing new under the sun"
No need to be surprised. Sarit and his father are puppets of Margalit and Yahav who pull the strings and determine which of their friends should be given a favor, increased rights, change of designation of a public area to a hotel, etc.
Put them in a circle of corruption and they have to be obedient pawns in the local committee.
That's all, that's all that's happening here. Sarit Golan can promise, she simply cannot deliver
There is no parking in Bat Galim anyway, it will be terrible here with parking, especially on Saturdays, those who leave the house have nowhere to return.
I planned the restoration of the casino including a swimming pool on its side at a height of about one meter above the street and a parking lot under the pool area. Also wardrobes and booths for light food and drinks.
And how did you think of overcoming the intrusion of sea water under the dried ground? What cost a lot when expanding the Rambam compound? And did you take into account the updated tsunami scenarios in this location?
It's best that it remains a ruin for the homeless like this, it's amazing as if someone entered the beach under it. You do have to take care of parking, but it's ridiculous with the arguments for years that don't allow progress and the ugly monster there
The municipality of Haifa can and should demand an exchange of space with the casino just as the municipality of Tel Aviv exchanged space with the dolphinarium.
The casino area is needed to enlarge the Bat Galim beach, they want to add 5000 residents to Bat Galim and Kiryat Eliezer when the small beach areas in Bat Galim are already full to capacity
The current ruin blocks the access to the sea, and the solution: let's build another hotel for the rich with an additional structure, which will further block the access, the air and the view and occupy the parking lot without providing a solution. Do good to the residents, the neighborhood and the city? What the hell, let's add a sin to a planning crime, and take Bat Galim even lower... We learned nothing from the Carmel Beach tower disaster, we will learn nothing from Tel Aviv that blocked its beach with a wall of towers... or at least, the "decision makers" didn't learn...
Who even says that it is necessary to "restore" a horrific hundred-year-old design mistake? To remind you, the original building was *destroyed* after standing as a white duplicate for decades. And now - they want to build *two* white elephants...
So what to do instead? Everything, just not that…. Continue to link the bathing beach and the boardwalk with additional parking... build a unique park - land or sea (have you heard of artificial coral reefs?).... There is no shortage of options.
Real public participation - he would have heard the public and its ideas from the beginning, not by the way, not leaving out of duty after the contractors and politicians signed the deals and rubbed their greasy palms...
"impossible"? "Not intended"…? When you want, as you know, you can change any plan. It's all a matter of desire.
Strengthens the hands of the residents in their war for all of us and against the capitalists and the greedy. Be united, organized and determined.
The article did not cover the fact that the municipality at this stage does not have the slightest picture of what is happening and developing in Ha'at Galim, and only now plans will be compiled in the process, even though these have been approved and are potential, and then they will see if there is any justification for preparing a master plan. A hinge is in the deposit of a hotel near the popular Milhouse which will lead to its closure and there is a hotel under construction bordering the building of the Cancer Society which will not be able to function as such... and also that there is no match between the boardwalk that was presented and that Delmalon Hanel has been approved operational parking that takes up 1k parking spaces. So how does the municipality expect the area to function? How does it intend to stand or fold in the shadow of an entrepreneur who was previously willing to settle for the casino structure alone?
The residents, most of whom presented on their behalf, raised professional points that the city engineer's team will have to implement as a condition for the program and the conference..which is certainly not a red tape but will be known...it will be filmed and it is said that it will be fully transcribed.
It is hereby proposed that it is simpler and will be an element of integrity to be uploaded to the web on behalf of the municipality so that the residents of Haifa who were not present at the conference will understand what is going to happen to the symbol of Haifa if the municipality does not act while realizing that it has an opportunity to develop tourism here that calls for activity and not a luxury hotel that does not contribute to the city.
They should not have received the surrounding area that belongs to the municipality or the state that we the citizens moved. And this could have been turned into a large parking lot for the benefit of the residents of Haifa who want to enjoy the beach. But instead of putting pressure on the owner, the municipality does the opposite and has fenced off the entire area from homeless people and thus preserves their property