My friend Yoni wrote to my email (I got his permission to use his quote)
"Wasn’t the additions (under your cottage on Hashmeeneet) done illegally in the beginning? Maybe you didn’t rent it out to others, but illegal is still illegal."
Now thats a great lead-up to my next topic, but first, a few comments on some of the comments from last time.
Michelle wishfully thinks that there should be lots of apartments with garden, but lets be realistic, that can't happen just from a planning perspective. Also, the demand in Maale Adumim for apartments, far outweighs the demand for single family homes. That's just the make up of most of the people who live here, and the country doesnt, and shouldnt revolve around what anglo's or any other minority group wants. Michelle is right that a new "Mitzpe-Nevo" concept is needed - and it might just happen.
Paula, (sorry) is in my book Chatzufa B'Yoter. Don't come the raw prawn, as we say in Australia (look that one up...its a beauty). If anyone in the Irya told you that its OK to divide up your house, please let us know who this character is! I for one would love to have some fun with him/her.
The Takanon of your TABA is very specific. You can't make separate entrances and then rent out half your house. You can (except that people like you made the Irya wary of abuses) and should be allowed to have a room, or slightly bigger witha bathroom etc, which is an integral part of your house, with the same entry as the main house, used for guests AND UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES to be rented out to anyone.
My friend Mack tells me about some guy who drives a pretty upmarket car in HaGilgal, witha name fairly similar to our nuclear whistle blower, who is dividing up his upmarket house for rent. The only reason that would happen is if he wants to sell his place and thinks that some other wanker will pay a better dollar for an income producing property. Shame!
Well back to Yoni.
Quite a few years ago, we bought a cottage on HaShminit, with building rights. Like good children, we employed an architect and structural engineer, submitted plans and received a buiding permit.
Now our engineer had a thing about building to earthquake standards, even then (and boy was he right) and insisted on the addition sitting on bedrock and not on piles or a strip foundation, as the houses in the area were built on backfill that was unstable.
So we dug down to rock at a depth of about five metres below ground level and started putting in the steel.
Lo and behold, along came the city building inspector and whacked me with a stop-work order from the court, with a copy to the police. Why? Because he claimed that I intended building a basement. No amount of explanation, with or without the plans or the engineer, convinced him otherwise, and the shyster firm of lawyers that the city uses, took me to court, where I had to pay a fine in order to continue working.
Now that slightly pissed me off, and I figured that since I had paid for a crime that I hadn't committed, that I would apply for change of TABA and in fact, build the basement. The city freaked out and threatened more legal action, however in the spirit of "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime" (in this case opposite), I didnt fill in the level under the ground floor and opted for the court option.
In court, there was a different judge, who thought that this was a waste of time and asked the city to show cause as to why I shouldnt be allowed to change the TABA and if not then to allow the change.
The city coudnt show cause and I got my change of TABA, making my house totally legal. I did not rent out the basement.
Now I stress, that I do believe in rules. The city needs a strict building code and this needs to be policed properly.
There shouldnt be a "free-for-all" situation where anyone does what they want with building facades, like pergolas and A/C units etc, or even with additions. HOWEVER, the city has become too rigid. They are not prepared to consider logical changes and the city engineer, is a frustrated architect, who is a far better technocrat than he is an architect. Not that one should underate his function. It is important and from a purely beurocratic point of view, he does a good job. However, he and his team have become locked in to far to much uniformity
Next time I'll tell you about the house I'm building on HaKatross, and how the city misuses its power (you might have read a bit about this in last weeks local paper).
Shabbat Shalom to all
Ches
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I'm thinking it's a shame to dedicate a whole blog that is searchable to the negativity of building in 1 city for a problem that is very common in Israel.
ReplyDeleteWe need, as residents of Maale Adumim, to propagate the Internet with positive information about our city, rather than complaints that feed others. Just imagine how this blog could be used by our enemies.
In any event, not sure why you decided to use my name, when like many, I've built a persona on the Internet using another, and posted my commment that way. Not sure how "(sorry)" helps - you've got to be kidding.
Not sure why MY advertisement for an apartment on Rechov Gilgal justified apparently launching a blog with your comments compared to all the others looking to rent out apartments for years already.
I can tell you that the apartment I want to rent has been in existence for 5 years, is 60 meters in size, no slum at all, is in beautiful condition and unlikely to damage the neighborhood. I have no intention of ever dividing it into a smaller unit or of trying to create another within this area.
In most places in Israel, people don't rent 240 meters so having 1 extra car and 2 families occupying 60 meters and 180 meters seems quite reasonable and well within what the street can handle. Renting the same 240 mtrs to 3 families, as does happen in certain places may well be a different matter because then the issue of parking does become more problematic.
My main point however, is that beyond the ramblings on building issues...don't you have anything to say about the beautiful gardens in our city, the fact that 36,000 people call this city home, the resources we have here - the library, the community center, the clean streets, the mall, the restaurants?
Maale Adumim is a wonderful place to live and building is progressing according to the needs we have for people who want to live here. There is danger to our community posed by those who ramble negatively on the city when in fact it is an incredible place to live. I agree, there are those who have abused areas and yes, you pointed out several of them - but I find a house and an apartment - even one per building on Gilgal is not where the abuse will be.
A house divided into 3 or more apartments (like several on Hamatsiltayim) is much more difficult and problematic, especially when controlled by an absentee landlord who doesn't even bother to maintain the property - no house on Gilgal falls into that category that I know of, while several on Hameitzidim, Hamatiltayim and HaGitit do - those are the problematic areas where there isn't enough parking, the flow of traffic is difficult, and resources are strained. HaKatros is another area where the number of apartments - built legally with the city, has damaged the quality of life there and made parking and traversing the area very difficult.
Another Mitzpe Nevo-type area is definitely required in our city - ideally one close enough that people could initially join our neighborhood shuls and events. From a city planning poing of view, I was told that I could build a house with a separate area, including an entrance and it was permissible as a parent/child set up. Once the number of people and family units is set, I'm not sure why it would damage the city if someone pays for the area or not and Gilgal is big enough to allow for the number of apartments and houses I currently see here.
Anyway, as a long-time blogger, I suggest focusing on things that are more positive, or at least removing the "Maale Adumim" from the title so that those of us working to better the image of Maale Adumim on the Internet don't have to contend with yet another site that damages the overall reputation and prevents those who search (journalists, non-residents etc.) from finding only negative in the top 10-15 results.
By the way, you have a spelling error in the word, "bureaucratic" and you're missing a period at the end of the sentence....from someone being chatfuza b'yoter.