The Tel Aviv-Yafo Administrative Court has recently dismissed a petition filed against the urban renewal plan for the Dan Bus Garage complex, located at the intersection of Raoul Wallenberg and Pinhas Rosen streets. The petition, submitted by 48 residents, called for the cancellation of the approval for the construction of approximately 750 housing units on the site. Judge Gilad Hess ruled that the plan shall remain in effect and proceed, rejecting the residents' claims regarding density and the use of public access easements for public areas.
The project, spanning approximately 38 dunams, involves the relocation of an active bus terminal and garage to make way for buildings ranging from 15 to 19 stories. In addition to residential housing, the project incorporates commercial space, public buildings, and open public areas. The core of the legal dispute centered on the planning authorities' decision to designate an additional 7.5 dunams as open areas for public use via easements, rather than allocating them as separate lots. The petitioners argued that this mechanism contradicts the Tel Aviv 5000 Master Plan and leads to an unreasonable increase in density and construction rights.
Conversely, the court adopted the position of the developer companies, Amed Real Estate Development and Investments and Nahor, represented by attorneys Anat Biran, Efrat Lerner, and Mor Agiv-Kishri of the Anat Biran Law Office. The verdict established that the local committee is authorized to utilize easements and that there is no contradiction with urban planning standards. The judge emphasized that the alternative of designating these areas as standard public lots would have led to a significant reduction in the land available for construction, which would have infringed upon the property rights of the landowners and undermined the project's economic viability.
Furthermore, the court noted that the plan allocates approximately 18.6 dunams for public purposes—comprising 49% of the site's area—thereby meeting necessary requirements. The court also rejected the petitioners' arguments regarding the non-publication of traffic impact documents, determining that while a procedural defect in the publication occurred, no actual harm to the petitioners' rights was caused, as the documents were available to them. Upon conclusion of the proceedings, the petitioners were ordered to pay legal costs in the amount of 18,000 NIS. Attorney Anat Biran noted that the ruling reinforces the importance of balanced and viable urban planning.