(haipo) In the Neve Shaanan neighborhood of Haifa, one of the most prominent public struggles in the city has been taking place in recent months over a large-scale evacuation-construction project planned on Hanita Street. Many residents claim that this is a plan that is not suitable for the street, the neighborhood, and the existing urban fabric, and that it is an example of “pig-like” approval for developers at the expense of the residents’ quality of life. They are working through a lawyer, raising funds, and organizing resistance groups, with the goal of changing the evil decree and preventing high-rise construction, especially in the heart of a neighborhood characterized by low-rise, textured construction.
The Hanita Project: Large-scale urban renewal
The Neve Sha'anan neighborhood has become one of the main centers of urban renewal in Haifa in recent years. Within this framework, a large-scale evacuation and construction project is progressing, planned for the area of Hanita 61-67 and Shaul 24 streets, and is set to significantly change the face of the old area.
The plan includes the demolition of five old buildings, four “train” buildings and an additional building, which currently contain between 63 and 68 small apartments. In their place, three new residential buildings are planned, a commercial frontage on Hanita Street and approximately 289 new housing units, including approximately 40 extremely small apartments. This is a construction multiplier of 4.5 times the existing situation, a dramatic change in the fabric of the neighborhood.
Planning Policy: What is Allowed and What is Approved in the Neighborhood
According to Haifa's comprehensive master plan (HP/2000), the height of construction in the Kikar Ziv area in the Neve Sha'anan neighborhood is limited to structural construction of up to 6 stories, and localized high-rise construction of up to 9 stories. In complex projects approved in the neighborhood, such as the Pfizer complex, buildings up to 25 stories high were also approved, but these are designated complexes for which special conditions have been set.
Plan חפ/מק/3/2550, which governs the Hanita project, is currently in advanced planning stages after being submitted in July 2026. It includes buildings 18 and 22 stories high, a particularly unusual height compared to existing construction on Hanita Street and in the neighborhood in general.
Residents' opposition: "A huge gap between the existing and the planned"
Attorney Moshe Prezanchevsky, who represents the residents in the objection submitted to the local committee, explains that the objection stems from the huge gap between the height of the buildings today and the planned construction. According to him, the residents are not opposed to urban renewal in principle, but they are opposed to construction that is disproportionate to the neighborhood.
Residents emphasize that currently there is 3-4 story construction in the neighborhood, and in some cases, additions of a limited number of floors have been approved. However, they see 18-22 story construction on Hanita Street as an extreme exception that would completely change the character of the neighborhood.
Residents' claims: "Swine-based and disproportionate construction"
Many residents claim that the project represents excessive profitability for the developer, at the expense of the quality of life of the residents. They point out that on HaBula Street, adjacent to the complex, there is a developer who is erecting a 7-story building instead of a 3-story building, another example of planning violations being approved in the neighborhood.
According to them, when a developer presents a 22-story building in an area where the maximum construction is 5.5 stories according to the policy document for texture preservation, this is a serious deviation from urban planning. They emphasize that there is intention and thought behind the floor limit, and that it is impossible for planning committees to approve exceptions that do not comply with the policy.
Legal claims: “The committee acted without authority”
Attorney Prezanchevsky notes in his objection that about 3 years ago the local committee approved Plan 2550, a strategic plan for the Neve Sha'anan neighborhood that was intended to regulate the future development of the neighborhood. According to the plan, the area of Hanita 61-67 is defined as a conservation fabric where an addition of up to two floors is only permitted, subject to an inspection of the street cross-section.
He claims that the committee decided to submit the plan and treat the submission as an official declaration of an evacuation-construction area, even though it has no authority to do so. In addition, he notes that the municipality did not conduct public participation as required in a plan that has significant implications for the environment.
Parking and infrastructure shortage: “Shaul Street is already choked”
Residents who attended a meeting with Deputy Mayor Sarit Golan Steinberg raised a series of serious infrastructure problems. Shaul Street, where the underground parking garage is planned to be located, is a dead-end street where a kindergarten also operates. Parents who arrive in the morning and afternoon cause heavy traffic congestion, and residents claim that the street cannot handle the addition of hundreds of vehicles.
In addition, they note that each apartment in the neighborhood has an average of two vehicles, and that adding hundreds of apartments would create unbearable traffic congestion. According to them, no clear answers have been received regarding transportation solutions, parking, or water and sewage infrastructure.
Construction height: “A 70-meter building will darken the neighborhood”
One of the main complaints from residents is the height of the planned buildings. A 22-story building would reach a height of about 70 meters, a height that does not exist in any part of the neighborhood. Even the tallest buildings in the neighborhood today are only 12–13 stories high.
Residents claim that such a tall building will darken the streets, harm the air and light, and create a visual burden that is inappropriate for the neighborhood. They emphasize that even if the infrastructure problems are solved, there is no justification for such a tall building in the heart of a rich neighborhood.
Meeting with the municipality: “Do we need to build at all costs?”
In a meeting held two weeks ago with Deputy Mayor Sarit Golan, residents raised all the main problems. According to them, Golan tried to offer solutions to each problem that was raised, but residents questioned whether there was even any feasibility for such high-rise construction in the neighborhood.
The residents claim that the municipality's role is to take care of the public, and that it should examine whether the project is suitable for the neighborhood and not just how the neighborhood can be adapted to the project.
Residents' organization: “300 people in the WhatsApp group”
The residents raised money to finance the legal opposition and started a WhatsApp group with nearly 300 participants. According to them, anyone who hears about the project does not understand how such a tall building was approved in such a sensitive area.
Public institutions are also opposed to the project. There is a small mikveh on Shaul Street, and Moshe Tovul, chairman of the mikveh association, expressed strong opposition to the plan.
The municipality's response: “The plan has not yet been discussed”
The Haifa Municipality said that the urban renewal plan for 61-67 Hanita Street has not yet been discussed by the planning institutions. Once it is brought to the discussion, the plan will be examined by professional bodies, taking into account all planning aspects, construction height, traffic loads, parking solutions, infrastructure and quality of life.
The municipality emphasized that it sees importance in promoting urban renewal, but will do so while maintaining a balance between development needs and the character of the neighborhood.
Dear residents, in Jerusalem too, the greed of the municipality and contractors has destroyed neighborhoods that had a special character in low-rise construction. The opposition should be directed to the municipality that approves, not to the developers. By the way, a word to the developers and the municipality, in Jerusalem hundreds of apartments remain empty and there is no demand to the extent that the mayor has appealed to New York residents to purchase apartments in Jerusalem.
A 30 (!!!) story building is planned on Brenner Street. There is no limit... The fight against the municipality and the developers is difficult.
On Brenner Street, they must evacuate and build, buildings from the sixties, floors on columns, a slight tremor and everything was destroyed. Here, there is a justification for the towers, otherwise it is not profitable for the contractors, they will not demolish and build for free
We need a lot of apartments to house more Haredim.
The secularists are already leaving.
I also left my hometown after 60 years.
A neglected, dirty, and congested neighborhood.
Already today, entering Hanita Street during business hours, and on Fridays in particular, is a big gamble.
The street has one lane in each direction with a median strip in the middle, and every vehicle that stops "just for a minute - I'm waiting for my wife" creates a crazy traffic jam.
There is nothing to talk about parking.
I personally lived in the Ziv Center, and the trend of Haredi came to my door in the form of a loudspeaker announcing the beginning of Shabbat, which deafened my ears and interrupted my rest before the beginning of Shabbat.
And "special thanks" to Zvika, the chatty Rabbi, who promised me a sea of promises for treatment/improvement before the elections, and Valerihan stopped answering me.
(And I can easily prove it.)
It is very interesting that in the Carmel neighborhood, the residents are objecting to the plan for Margalit 23 (see article on this site) for only one floor more than the character of the neighborhood, it is a plan of only 6.5 floors! And in Neve Sha'anan, they are promoting plans for giant towers of 22 floors and more, which is not at all compatible with the construction in the neighborhood... Sorry, but someone needs to wake up and quickly.
Haifa must grow!
If not widthwise (because there is no free space), it must be heightwise.
With the rate of population growth, there is no other choice; any other statement is not connected to reality.
You all want young people, you want small businesses, you want high-level infrastructure, who will pay for all of this?
The buildings that are being demolished are old and unsafe and not suitable for a family with two or three children of 2026.
The change is not from the residents' private pockets, so whoever builds must make a profit so they can build more.
Not in my back yard doesn't work in this case.
Who reveals residents' ID and phone details like that in an article?!! What is this neighborhood?
And then they are surprised that the strong residents/Technion graduates are leaving the city….
A municipality that hates its residents
There's no problem building tall, see New York.
New York has a subway and public transportation as a basis for high-rise construction
In Haifa, there are barely 3 bus lines that pass through Neve Sha'anan.
The contractors' representatives are destroying Haifa with bizarre comparisons or are you a bot altogether?
Father Hillel Silver's upper body is also on the show.
Megalomaniac plan. "New Neighborhood" my ass!
They're building a dense monster here that will look like slums.
Haifa Municipality, wake up!
Absolute madness with this eviction-construction. They are giving crazy multipliers to developers (multiplier 4 or even 5) while being lawless and disrespectful of the population. This is causing crazy requests to go up. And even higher. . Which is destroying the environment and the neighborhoods themselves. This will cause a huge surplus (supply) of apartments and a crash in apartment prices. This madness needs to be stopped. All over the country, not just in Neve Sha'anan. This lawlessness on the part of the regulators (municipalities.. planning committees) must stop. !!!
The municipality's conduct should be investigated. It's strange what's happening there. In the neighborhood of Geula, for example, on Akiva, Geula, and Bezalel streets, the municipality is trying to completely thwart an evacuation and construction project that is taking shape, even though almost all of the buildings are 80 years old or more.
What about the mosque that makes a louder call 5 times a day and reaches Neve Sha'anan?
What about Beit Maccabi in Hadar, which is becoming a center of Palestinian incitement funded by Qatar and the spy association Bishara?
Error. There are 20 floors on Netiv Chen 1. There are 21 floors on Hanita 36. There is no precedent of any kind here.
It's time to build the entire NUS in line with the times. Tremendous unfulfilled potential.
As one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in the country, high-rise construction will do wonders for the neighborhood.
Just take into account the danger of earthquakes expected on the SA fault.
In my opinion, the area that is not built on today should be calculated to turn it into green space and then build on the remaining height.
A crappy municipality... the one that takes the most property tax money from us, and provides mediocre service, why does it care about increasing it and receiving more property tax money from taxpayers?
How disgusting money can be.
I will write something that might provide a partial solution. In my opinion, all the area that is not currently built on should be calculated in order to preserve it as open space.