Weekly Update 16

December 13, 2024

Hello everyone,

I’ll start with an update from the special council meeting held this week to discuss a significant expansion of the educational complex in the Halomot neighborhood. The complex currently houses the following schools: Moshava High School, Ya’avetz, Pelech, and the Religious High School. The council plans to add the following to this complex in the coming years (if the Ministry of Education approves):

• The Keshet School, serving students from kindergarten through high school, with two classes per grade. The Beit HaTothan Association has notified the council—which leases the school’s premises—that the school must vacate the site by the end of 2026. Therefore, this school will be given top priority and will be built in the southern part of the complex, where there is currently a hill opposite the high school’s rear entrance.
• Construction of an additional wing for the Moshava High School—in the area where there is currently a parking lot near the Maof HaTzipor Square adjacent to the rear entrance, the tennis court, and the new sports hall. The new wing will include 12 classrooms designated for special education in high school.
• Expansion of the Tanachic High School. This school is designated by the Ministry of Education as a regional school, meaning that nearly 50% of the students come from various surrounding communities. This also applies, incidentally, to the religious high school for girls—Pelech.

At the meeting, we were asked to approve an initial allocation of 100,000 NIS for preparing a program and preliminary plans for each school. Construction of the schools depends on approval from the Ministry of Education, which will fund the construction; typically, its funding covers up to 50% of construction costs, and the local authority is required to cover the remaining half. The total cost is estimated at tens of millions of shekels, which are not yet available in the council’s budget. In addition, there is an urgent need to construct an additional wing for the Haita School, a wing that was planned during Ziv’s term and must now be built. The council head assured us that this is merely a planning approval prior to the issuance of building permits, and only after the Ministry of Education approves and budgets the construction will a detailed cost plan be presented to the council members. At that point, we will be able to assess how much the council needs to contribute from its budget toward the construction and whether we have the means to finance this additional amount.

During the meeting, I raised the issue of the anticipated traffic congestion due to the single access road from Maof HaTzipor Square to the educational complex and the increased traffic to that area. It was stated that at this stage, there are no plans to widen the existing road (Rabin Road) or to pave an additional road from Beit El Square (a road that will only be paved once the Zichrona neighborhood is built). Therefore, as my colleague in the party, Dr. Avigayil Dolev, said, we must explore various transportation solutions such as shuttles or a transportation system during school hours within the complex.

Once the expansion of the educational complex is approved by the Ministry of Education and we know exactly what the scope of the construction will be, our party intends to submit a motion regarding transportation.

With the exception of the new wing at the high school, the entire expansion of the Education Complex will be carried out on Zichrona land. As you may recall from the previous newsletter, I promised to update you on the meeting I scheduled with Dr. Avigayil Dolev from my party and the council engineer to examine whether this involves an expropriation that could lead to the construction of the Zichrona neighborhood in the coming years, which would result in the economic collapse of the community. The council engineer explained to us that there is no land swap or anything of the sort, as all rights have already been determined in the balance tables of the approved Zichrona plan.

The balance tables are approved during the preparation of a consolidation and subdivision plan without the owners’ consent, and every landowner receives land value compensation based on what is included in the plan and after receiving betterment for the plan, all with the approval of a district appraiser.

It’s a real stroke of luck that Avigayil is an architect and planner and can review the proposed Zichrona plan (to me, it’s all Greek). So here is the relevant section of the plan where you can see Cell 100, which is the planned area. It includes 200% of the main area out of 21 dunams in buildings up to 4 stories high. Please see the relevant section of the plan in the document attached to this email.

The engineer explained to us that the likelihood that developing the area in Zichrona for the educational complex will lead to the development of the Zichrona neighborhood is low because it is on the outskirts of the plan and is essentially an expansion of existing land outside Zichrona that will now extend into Zichrona but does not require the development of the neighborhood. I hope she is right, because establishing Zichrona in the coming years instead of in seven years’ time would bring economic disaster upon the community.

The council head stated at the meeting that he opposes the development of the Zichrona neighborhood in the next seven years. We, of course, do as well.

I am in favor of sensible development of the Education Campus without incurring deficits, but at the meeting I voted against approving the planning documents because the council head and the council administration did not provide us with all the information we requested prior to the meeting. I did this as an act of protest because time and again, I and other council members have asked questions to obtain information essential for voting—and we haven’t even received a response.

Some of the information we requested was finally revealed in the Master Plan for Education prepared during Ziv Deshe’s term. The plan from June 2022 contains a wealth of eye-opening data. Data that alone should determine whether it is necessary to expand schools and more. Thank you to Ziv for bringing this plan to our attention—a plan that is even available on the council’s website. However, the council head himself, as he honestly admitted during the meeting, is not familiar with this plan. He explained that he is, however, aware of the needs.

How can such an important strategic discussion regarding education and the budget be held—without information and without data? And without the director of the Education Department being present at the meeting? I wrote to the secretary beforehand and asked that she attend, but I was told she doesn’t work on Tuesday afternoons (which is odd, since all council meetings are held at that time). I insisted, and I was told she would come but only for half an hour—and she didn’t show up.

This is what council discussions look like on one of the most important issues.

Here is another example of withholding essential information; I have already shared others here in the past:

Local government regulations require that a staffing appendix be attached to the budget book submitted for plenary approval. This is a simple table showing the number of positions by department for the year just ended compared to the following year
—in our case, the staffing levels for 2023 compared to 2024.

In July, during a meeting to approve the remaining budget for 2024, we did not receive the aforementioned table. Since then, I have repeatedly contacted the treasurer—Avi Hosman—to obtain it. I have raised this issue no fewer than six times: four emails to the treasurer and two to the council chair. The first time, the treasurer sent me an unclear document that is certainly not the required table. Perhaps he thought I wouldn’t understand and would be satisfied with that. But I continued to request information that, by law, was required to be provided to us in July!! I am still waiting and will submit an inquiry regarding this matter.

And we’ll conclude with a successful project that was planned and budgeted during Ziv Deshe’s term and is now being implemented—the garden being built at the western entrance to Zichron Yaakov, at the end of Aliyah Road, adjacent to Ma’ayan Tzvi. Due to the war and the elections that took place, implementation was delayed and is now proceeding under the new council head. I hope the current council head will maintain continuity and implement other projects that have already been planned. Please see the section on the development of the western garden in the voluminous plan that Ziv Avotbol submitted upon his departure in the document attached to this email.

Yours,

Limor Zar Gutman

The “Lema’an HaMoshava” Party