The Tel Aviv District Planning and Building Commission in the Planning Administration, headed by Dalit Zilber, has deposited an overall outline plan for Bnei Brak. The outline plan enables the city to add 10,000 housing units, with an emphasis on increasing the supply of public and open spaces. 8,000 of the 10,000 new housing units in the plan will be constructed in already built-up areas, while the remaining 2,000 housing units will be in a new neighborhood close to Yarkon Park.
According to Central Bureau of Statistics figures, Bnei Brak is the densest city in Israel, with 25,000 people per sq.m. The city has 185,000 residents living in an area of 7,800 dunam (1,950 acres). The number of resident is slated to increase by 30% according to the plan.
The designers of the plan said that it was designed to set the development trends in the city for the next 25 years, and to establish planning mechanisms to reinforce Bnei Brak's status as Israel's leading haredi (ultra-Orthodox) city, increase the supply of housing units, and improve the quality of homes the city.
The plan provides for further development of the BBC business zone, with the possibility of adding 1.5 million sq.m. in business and commercial space, with public transportation links between the territorially continuous business areas in this zone. The plan also includes bicycle paths that will be connected to the planned network of bicycle paths in the district, and to the Ofnidan Greater Tel Aviv network of bicycle paths.
Tel Aviv District Planning and Building Commission planner Naomi Angel said, "In addition to increasing the supply of housing units in the city, the plan establishes an internal municipal public transportation system moving on circuits between the existing and future public transportation terminals and the various neighborhoods in the city. Streamlining the public transportation system will keep hundreds of buses currently passing through the city every day outside the city, give the city's sidewalks back to its residents, encourage the developing street life in the city, and contribute to the local economy."
Bnei Brak's location in the eastern part of Greater Tel Aviv, between Highway 4 on the east and Ben Gurion Road on the west, enables the city to rely on an extensive public transportation system. This system, which includes many bus routes, a railway station, and two light railway lines (the red line under construction and the planned yellow line, will help the city become an attractive business hub.
The plan was prepared at the initiative of the Planning Administration, in cooperation with the Bnei Brak municipality and architect Zadik Elyakim.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on February 19, 2017
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