Supreme Court clears way for construction of 2,105 apartments in Beit Shemesh
Posted on 10. Feb, 2010 by buyitinisrael in Israel Real Estate
Site of Ramat Beit Shemesh Gimmel
Following a freeze of nearly five months, the Israeli Supreme Court last week cleared the way for the publication of six land tenders in the city of Beit Shemesh tailored for the expansion of real estate in Ramat Beit Shemesh with the construction of 2,105 new apartments. After the Israeli Land Administration published the tender for land zoned in Ramat Beit Shemesh Gimmel back in September 2009, nine Beit Shemesh city council members petitioned the tenders on the grounds that they were allegedly slated for new construction only for haredim.
The petition filed against Minister of Housing and Construction Ariel Atias, Beit Shemesh Mayor Rabbi Moshe Abutbul and the Israel Land Administration claimed that the tender format prevents other groups from participating in the auction, and benefits only the haredi public. In the petition, the opponents demanded that the decision of the city council to divide the neighborhood into a third haredi, one-third national religious, and one-third secular must be determined as a condition in the government’s tenders. As a result of the petition filed at the Jerusalem court at the end of November, the tender for land to build 2,105 apartments on 40 plots in the Ramat Beit Shemesh Gimmel neighborhood was suspended and frozen until last week when the Supreme Court finally dismissed the appeal.
Haredim in Ramat Beit Shemesh
Veteran secular residents have in recent months raised concerns that the tender will complete the process of turning Beit Shemesh into a haredi town and could lead to an ousting of residents who are not ultra-Orthodox on ethnic grounds. In recent years, Beit Shemesh which is located in close proximity to Jerusalem, has become a popular home to the haredi population leading to a shortage in housing in the area in particular for young couples. The Housing and Construction Ministry said that these tenders are part of the ministry’s plan to increase the supply of housing for the general population in order to lower the rising prices of homes, which is making it difficult for buyers to purchase a home, in particular for first homebuyers and young couples.
Ramat Beit Shemesh located on a mountaintop above the town of Beit Shemesh, and approximately 18 kilometres west of Jerusalem has a population, which mainly consists of Orthodox Jews and English-speaking olim. As a result of the popularity of the area, the neighborhood has in recent years been subject to expansion and development plans turning it into one of the fastest growing neighborhoods in Israel. The neighborhood has two sections: Ramat Beit Shemesh Alef featuring a more mixed population of secular, religious, and mainly American-haredi Jews; and Ramat Beit Shemesh Bet populated almost exclusively by haredi Jews. There are plans for developing a third section, Ramat Beit Shemesh Gimmel, for which land is being zoned through tenders by the Housing and Construction Ministry for construction of new apartments.
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