There are two main reasons why Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planning and building commissions reform (the "balconies reform") has failed, even as the Knesset wages a holding action on it.
First, there will unquestionably be a period of chaos, because the system cannot in a reasonable period of time handle the scope of the new law. This is above and beyond the power of the market. We can expect many long years of administrative appeals, contradictory rulings by the courts, and endless debate by the Supreme Court - and the construction industry will face what it hates the most, uncertainty.
The reform will also likely fail because of its basic concept. The planning system is supposed to cover the country with a network of outline plans, after which all that needs to be done will be to approve what is included in these plans by a single authority - the local commission, provide that it is "authorized". Only then will it be possible to apply the slogan, "One plan, one commission".
Israel has 120 local planning and building commissions. These commissions are authorized under Amendment 76 to the Planning and Building Law (5725-1965), which was passed in 2006. What is an "authorized commission"? A commission that has demonstrated professionalism (computerization, transparency, advisors, etc.), and which operates an efficient enforcement system. Out of the 120 local commissions, just 12 have been declared "authorized commissions" since the amendment was passed, of which only three (Haifa, Netanya, and Katzrin) were actually authorized by the end of 2011, and four more (Tel Aviv, Herzliya, Holon, and Shoham) subsequently.
The authorization of local commissions in the periphery cannot happen within a reasonable timetable under any circumstances imaginable, because it is not efficient economically, and because there is no way to create 120 professional bodies. Nor is there any real capability to test small commissions by professional criteria.
A review of the list of authorized local commissions leads to one inescapable conclusion: towns in the periphery will not meet the necessary criteria for 50 years. Not even preliminary surveys for the authorization factors have been carried out.
If the planning reform passes as is, large planning commissions with reasonable budgets might function, but, at the same time, the condition of planning commissions in the periphery will worsen. Since they will never receive the status of "authorized commission", towns in the periphery will be handled like the vassals to a new authority: the committee for filling positions in local authorities (Paragraph 111 of the bill). This is a kind of district committee under the control of interior minister - in other words, controlled by the politics.
This is in contrast to the current situation, in which there is a balance between public interests, enabling an acceptable handling of opinions in towns in the periphery.
As a solution, instead of spending NIS 480 million on the reform, spend NIS 48 million to add trained personnel to the existing planning commissions, and hold a more reasonable and sagacious debate on big reforms.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 15, 2012
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