"The construction will damage the neighborhood in a destructive and irreversible way, people will leave" • Opposition from the residents of the prestigious neighborhood in Haifa

(haipo) - The Sabioni Dania neighborhood in Haifa, which currently has about 1,000 housing units (not including the Trio and David towers), faces a plan to build 680 additional housing units, alongside commercial areas and public buildings. In view of the planned construction, a local steering team was formed, numbering 12 members. The team opposes the plan in its current form, while pointing out two central problems: the gap between the number of housing units planned and the one approved in the original plan, and the lack of appropriate transportation solutions.

Stick to the original plan

During a meeting of the steering team, the team members presented their opposition to the construction plan in Sabioni Dania. "The construction plan has an approved building permit for the construction of only about 190 housing units," noted one of the team members. "Today it is an addition of over 650 housing units. We demand to build according to the approved plan only. In 2022, the mayor at the time signed a compromise agreement with the Yuval Alon company, which allowed for the construction of 3.5 times the number of units allowed in the IBA. In return, the municipality will be compensated accordingly. who are starting to promote such a program."

The steering team claims that the proposed plan includes the construction of four residential buildings of 18 to 30 floors, which will be built above a commercial and business floor. According to the plan, the buildings will be located along Orland Street, in an area 200 meters long. The team members emphasize that the expected construction will cast a heavy shadow and damage the landscape, which will have a negative effect on the residents of the nearby houses, especially those living on Gloverman Street.

without considering the steep natural landscape of the neighborhood

The members of the steering team further explain that Sabioni Dania is a "balloon" neighborhood (which has one entrance and one exit), which includes about 1,000 units (the steering team does not consider the residents of the Trio Towers and David Towers, who live in the southern part of Oskar Schindler Street) when the request for the addition About 70% of the existing housing units in the neighborhood does not make sense. "The entire sought-after complex, with the residential towers, which are unusual in their height and volume, the public construction and the commercial areas, will create a real estate monster without taking into account the steep natural landscape of the neighborhood and is, in fact, suitable for the center of an urban settlement and not for a street on the outskirts of the neighborhood.

Map - Jacob Orland Street - Block 11238

The steering team: "Devastating damage to the neighborhood"

The steering team says that the implementation of the plan will cause an urban and environmental change involving devastating, irreversible damage to the neighborhood and its residents and the fabric of life, including extremely severe traffic chaos - traffic and parking, starting from the initial construction stages and even significantly lowering the value of the properties. The construction will last for years and will turn the neighborhood into a large and crowded construction site with noise hazards and air pollution, which will endanger our lives. Many apartment owners would prefer to leave the neighborhood for other places to live. Therefore, it is necessary to drastically reduce the scope of construction, the height and volume of the buildings and adapt the construction to the nature of the neighborhood, the route of the area and the location of the neighborhood."

The transportation problem

The steering team warns that the residents of Savoni Dania are already suffering from traffic congestion and parking problems. According to them, any resident who wants to leave the neighborhood is required to go through Mendel Singer Street, which leads to the signposted intersection at Oskar Schindler Street. This intersection, which also serves the residents of the 'Trio' and 'David' towers, is the only exit towards Nesher or Haifa.

"If today, with only about 1,000 housing units, the residents of the neighborhood are already dealing with heavy traffic during peak hours, how can you expect the situation to be bearable when over 600 more housing units are added?" ask the members of the steering team. "The neighborhood may become congested, which will significantly harm the quality of life of the existing residents and the new tenants, who will not be able to move around comfortably."

The team members point out that even during the construction period, heavy traffic is expected due to the movement of trucks and heavy vehicles, which may worsen the transportation situation and cause additional hazards for the residents of the neighborhood and the area. "The transportation consequences must be taken into account and prepared accordingly before promoting the plan," they emphasize.

The director of planning in the Haifa municipality published an opinion last month (November 2024) to the members of the local committee, in which he states that in the current transportation situation in the Savioni Dania neighborhood, it is not possible to add about 650 additional housing units. Today, the exits from the neighborhood are through Sderot Abba Khushi, for traveling within Haifa, or through Bar Yehuda Street, which leads to Nesher.

The director of planning in the Haifa municipality further claims that the addition of housing units on such a scale requires the opening of another road, such as the planned road, which should connect the neighborhood of Ramat Alon to Sabioni Dania. According to him, without an appropriate transportation solution, traffic congestion in the neighborhood will only worsen significantly.

The plan for the construction of the road that is supposed to connect the neighborhoods of Ramat Alon and the neighborhoods of Dania arouses considerable opposition among the residents of Ramat Alon. According to them, the opening of the road will lead to the flow of many vehicles into their neighborhood, which will increase traffic congestion in the neighborhood and harm the quality of life of the residents. In addition, they claim that the road may damage the forest that they have been cultivating in recent years and the walking routes in the area.

The director of planning at the Haifa Municipality emphasizes that the opening of the road between the neighborhoods of Ramat Alon and the Dania neighborhoods is a necessary condition for the completion of the construction plan in the neighborhood, however there is a dispute regarding the time when the road should be opened, in order to prevent further harm to the residents of the Dania neighborhoods. The steering team in the neighborhood demanded that the municipality find an adequate transportation solution to the problem of the additional exit and entrance to the neighborhood, and only then begin the new construction process.

Savioni Dania will become Vardia 2?

The steering team of Savioni Dania also expresses deep concern about the expected consequences during the construction period. The residents, who learned from the construction experience in the green Verdia neighborhood, fear that the construction sites in the neighborhood, as happened in Vardia, could become environmental hazards, such as high levels of noise and air pollution, which would harm the quality of life of the residents. "If the construction in Verdia Green caused such serious problems, we fear that these phenomena will repeat themselves here as well," say the team members.

In addition, the members of the steering team claim that the city engineer's office recently submitted recommendations that allow the addition of the requested housing units, of approximately 650 units. According to these recommendations, the contractor will be allowed to build up to 30% of the units before the completion of the development works, including the paving of the continuation of the street Orland and its connection to Yigal Alon Street, as described in the plan HC/BM/1746/H. The steering team clarifies that These conditions are not sufficient to ensure that construction is carried out in a way that prevents serious damage to the environment and residents. "It must be ensured that the beginning does not lead to bigger problems later on," they add.

The recommendation: construction of up to 500 units

Last night (Monday, 02/12/2024) a subcommittee of the local committee was held, which discussed the construction plan in the Savioni Dania neighborhood. During the meeting, the city engineer team proposed that the construction in the neighborhood would include four buildings 18-20 stories above the ground. Before the submission of the plan goes into effect, it was suggested to check the height of the buildings from several points in the neighborhood, and according to the results, decide on the final height of the buildings.

In addition, the city engineer's team proposed to add a condition to the construction permit, according to which after the construction of 30% of the buildings, construction of the road connecting the Ramat Alon neighborhood to Savioni Dania will begin. At the end of the discussion, the local committee decided to recommend to the district committee to entrust the plan, subject to several conditions, the first of which is the construction of only 500 housing units. It was also decided to hold another discussion in the district committee before depositing the plan, in order to discuss the transportation issues in the area.
The next step in the process is a discussion in the district committee, which will meet on 08/12/2024.

The Yuval Alon company responded:

The Yuval Alon company claims that the company acted and acts in the best way in order to formulate, with the help of the best planners and consultants, as well as in cooperation with the authorized planning and construction authorities, a modern and careful planning that will lead to the improvement of the neighborhood and the city. "The aspects related to transportation and the rest of the planning issues will be handled in the best way, and will of course be approved by the authorized planning and construction officials. The Yuval Alon company, which previously built in the city of Haifa, will operate in the necessary manner also during the construction period, in order to reduce the disturbance to the environment (as much as possible)."

The Haifa Municipality responded:

"The plan in question is under the authority of the district committee, while the local committee is required to submit its recommendations on the subject. This is a land division to which approved plans from the 60s apply that allow construction on the developer's land divisions above and below Mendel Singer and Orland Streets.

The new municipal administration instructed the professional team to formulate its recommendations while strictly preserving the landscape and nature values ​​that exist in the place. In accordance with this guideline, the professional team recommends that the submitted plan be amended so that the head of the wadi and the areas around it are kept free of construction. The residential construction will be realized in the lower ground division only, while designating the areas in the upper ground division as areas for public use only for the well-being of the residents of the neighborhood. The number of buildings will be reduced to four and so will the height of the proposed buildings.

It should be noted that the local committee is independent in its judgment regarding the formulation of its recommendations to the district committee. As for the transportation issue, the neighborhood's roads were designed in accordance with the approved construction plans, while the completion of the construction of the road between Sabioni Dania and Ramat Alon is intended to improve the existing situation and spread the traffic between the neighborhoods."