Weekly Update 25

February 14, 2025

Hello, everyone.

Summary:

• This is one of the most important newsletters I’ve written to you regarding our quality of life in the community. So please don’t just read the summary!
• Construction plans in the community are on the rise, as evidenced by a review of the minutes and plans of the Samaria Regional Committee for Planning and Construction. This is the committee where most of Zichron Yaakov’s construction plans are discussed. It is a committee with two representatives from the community: Eli Abutbul, the council representative, and Itzik Elbaz, a public representative elected by the full council.
• Is the historic town center about to become very crowded? The Regional Planning and Construction Committee, with the support of the town’s two representatives, approved a plan at the corner of HaNassi and HaOranim Streets, where 10 housing units will be built on an area of less than one dunam! The buildings will be three stories high (above a basement level). Side building lines have been reduced to two meters instead of four. This plan constitutes a massive deviation from the master plan, which allows only four units per dunam in this area. Ziv Deshe previously opposed and blocked such plans. We anticipate and fear that dozens more identical plans will be submitted in this area. Look at the photo I attached and imagine—is this what the center of the town will look like in a few years?
• Zichrona Neighborhood – The court rejected the developers’ claim regarding the complex and ruled that development would take place only a decade after the plan’s approval (as of today, only 7 years remain). Are we witnessing the return of the plan that will add 13,000 residents to the town 7 years ahead of schedule, without ready infrastructure?
• Dorot Neighborhood – Signs that it, too, is making a comeback. A 20-dunam complex in the heart of the Yaakov neighborhood where an ultra-Orthodox association is seeking to rezone land from public use to a residential neighborhood with a density of 16 to 24 units per dunam.

We are an opposition committed solely to the residents—which is why we are reviewing plans submitted for approval to the Samaria Regional Planning and Construction Committee. Because what happens in the committee is not reported to us by the members of the council plenary.

In the plans for Zichron Yaakov submitted to the committee, we see a trend that concerns us, reflecting the policy of the council head; therefore, it is important for us to raise the alarm now so that everyone can monitor what is happening in their own community. We will continue to monitor, inform, and take action as necessary.

The community’s representatives on the committee are Council Head Eli Abutbul and Itzik Elbaz, a public representative elected by the council. Elbaz was the campaign manager for Tzila Reshef in the last election. The role of these two representatives is to ensure that the decisions made protect the public interest, which does not always align with that of landowners, contractors, and developers….. (You get the picture)

Let us recall that our election platform was a continuation of the policy of the council headed by Ziv Deshe, who halted high-density construction in the town. Ziv blocked the TAMA 38 plans in the center of the town (which are already returning), and halted the premature development of Zichrona (which is already showing troubling signs of a resurgence). During his term, the town’s growth was less than 1% in terms of population growth, in contrast to the national trend of massive growth.

As we warned, a council head has been elected whose agenda is completely different from ours and is now coming before the committee. Abutbul is apparently counting on the fact that we will all only feel the effects of dense construction and traffic jams in a few years, by which time it will be too late to stop the plans. And in the meantime, the contractors, as usual, will profit.

This time, I will present three projects that have a dramatic impact on the community:

 1. High-density, high-rise construction in the center of the town—will projects for multi-story buildings in the town’s historic center be approved again—as has happened in the past?

2. The Zichrona Complex—is it being promoted behind the scenes despite the mayor’s statements? Which, in our opinion, is what is about to happen.

3. The Dorot Plan – Are actions being planned without the knowledge of the public and elected officials? Which, in our opinion, is about to happen.

High-density high-rise buildings in the center of the town:

The current master plan for Zichron Yaakov (which is awaiting a final decision from the Appeals Subcommittee of the National Council) stipulates 4 residential units per dunam in the town center and in most other areas of the town. This is one of the master plan’s greatest achievements, and rightly so, as the trend nationwide is toward overcrowding. But developers will always seek to build more units. Will there be anyone to safeguard the public interest and strictly enforce the permitted number?

The answer is no!!!

 At the last plenary session of the Regional Committee, approval was granted to proceed with a plan at the corner of HaNassi Street and HaOranim Street. The two community representatives—Abutbul and Elbaz—supported the plan. On a plot smaller than one dunam, they approved 10 residential units. Yes, 10 units in a three-story building above a parking level. By the way, there are currently 4 units on two floors there. They will be demolished.

The plan allows for the construction of 12 parking spaces. For 10 residential units!!!

The plan allows for dramatic reductions in the side building line—instead of 4 meters, the building will be just 2 meters from the one next to it. Very cramped.

Once such a plan is approved—one that completely violates the master plan—other landowners will submit dozens of identical plans. This isn’t just a problem with one building. Soon, it will be a problem for the entire center of the town.

 Look at the rendering to see what’s going to be built there, and multiply that by dozens of plans—that’s what the center of the town will look like.

Zichrona Complex: 

Zichrona is the hill above the town’s high school, adjacent to the Halomot neighborhood. A massive neighborhood where approximately 1,250 housing units are planned, plus 250 senior housing units. This will result in an increase of about 13,000 residents. During the previous term, as part of the opposition to advancing the plan and the attempt to force the council to approve its early development, the council returned a check for 53 million NIS in betterment funds to the Israel Land Authority as part of its opposition to the method and timelines by which the Israel Land Authority sought to build the neighborhood. These funds served as a “honey trap” because, according to the council’s calculations, hundreds of millions of shekels are required to develop the neighborhood. The developers who purchased land from the Authority and wanted to bring in cranes and bulldozers to the site filed a petition with the court against the council.

The council won! The court accepted the council’s position that, in accordance with the approved zoning plan, development must begin within 10 years of the plan’s approval. That is, starting today—in about 7 to 8 years. Additionally, the council argued before the court that it cannot develop the area in the coming decade because, based on analyses by the council’s appraiser, this would lead to its financial collapse. It must wait until the establishment of areas generating commercial property taxes and the centers where the new employment zone (adjacent to Zichron Yaakov), the Wine Park, and, in parallel, the development of road infrastructure and other public buildings required in the town, and only then proceed with the construction of the Zichrona neighborhood. In court, the council argued that it has no intention of carrying out any type of development in the Zichrona complex—neither infrastructure nor public institutions, etc.

The judge rejected the developers’ claim and accepted the council’s arguments. This was a tremendous victory for the position led by Ziv Deshe, as the decision means the council will only have the option to begin developing the neighborhood in about 7 or 8 years.

On the surface, Council Head Abutbul proclaims everywhere that he, too, will not support the establishment of Zichrona in the next eight years. In practice, however, in order to build the Keshet School and expand the yeshiva high school, he recently expropriated land from Zichrona. Even though this is for the benefit of schools, it is considered development of Zichrona. And this could bring back the developers’ demands to build the neighborhood immediately.

Unfortunately, it seems I was right—this is exactly what is happening now.

At the last council meeting, the council chairman reported to the plenary members that he had been summoned to meetings in Jerusalem, where he was subjected to heavy pressure and “threats” from ministers and government officials, stating that building permits for the neighborhood would be issued over his head, and that some would delay the employment zone near Route 4—all to facilitate the construction of the Zichrona neighborhood. That is what he said at the council meeting. I want to believe that he will stand up to the pressure and is not “laying the groundwork” for us to approve the neighborhood now—7 years ahead of schedule!!

Our entire party is concerned about this issue and will continue to provide updates.

Dorot Complex

Dorot is a 20-dunam complex in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Yaakov, in the area of Rehovot HaZayit and Dorot. These are streets where a secular population also lives. The land is designated for public buildings and staff housing. The land belongs to a Torah-based association (Malat) headed by Rabbi Rafi Mena, who is also one of the leaders of the ultra-Orthodox community in Zichron Yaakov.

During the previous term, the Torah Association submitted a plan to rezone the entire complex for residential use with exceptionally high density—16 to 24 units per dunam!!!—including the “retroactive approval” of 44 units that had already been built as staff housing but were actually sold on the open market. Incidentally, the person who represented the association at the District Planning Committee during one of the hearings to advance the plan was Abutbul, who was then a private attorney.

In light of the council’s past actions, this destructive plan has been halted for now.

From sources reaching us, it appears that attempts are being made behind the scenes to restart the promotion of this plan—imagine 16 to 24 housing units multiplied by 20 dunams in the heart of the Yaakov neighborhood (Rimon, Haruv, Tadhar, Hatomer, Hadas streets, and more).

This issue relates to what I reported to you in the previous newsletter and was posted on Open Forum: Zila Reshef and Tzachi Baruch from the “Zikaron ShebaLev” party, who are ostensibly in the opposition—in practice, they have been voting alongside Abutbul for many months and appear poised to officially join him. This is despite Zila’s explicit campaign promise: “I will not sit with Eli… Eli and I no longer share the same values…”

Zila responded to a post addressing her regarding the breach of their campaign promise. She did not deny the claims and wrote: “If my request to manage the ‘Dorot’ project is acceptable to the other side, then I will be willing to set aside my statement (which you published during the election campaign) and join the coalition.”

See the post here, and we’d love for you to comment on it—

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1EGZXnyc2o/

This is very concerning, so we are on the lookout and will continue to update and monitor the situation.

Yours,

Dr. Limor Zar Gutman, Esq.

The “Lema’an HaMoshava” Party