For the second time: The court canceled a plan to build 3,000 apartments near the port of Ashdod

For the second time in a year, the Administrative Court canceled a plan to build 3,000 apartments southeast of Ashdod Port, which was twice approved by the National Planning and Building Committee and promoted by the Israel Lands Authority.
 This is a huge plan to build a new neighborhood known as Lachish Park, on a 612 acre site where Ashdod's new football stadium is to be built. The ruling will force the state to appeal to the High Court or completely cancel the plan.
At the beginning of the year, the Be'er Sheva Administrative Court received a petition from the Manufacturers Association, Ashdod Port Company and Israel Ports against the plan, which was first approved by the Mayor of May 2018, and ordered it to be re-discussed.
The petitioners claimed that the area on which the neighborhood is planned is now used as a buffer between the port and the residential neighborhood, and that the construction of the neighborhood will bring the population closer to the port and to the noise, odor and hazardous substances that are being transported in the harbor.
The judge accepted that claim and the state ignored a document from the Ministry of the Environment on the issue of proper separation of public areas from risk sources.
Following this ruling, the CCP again discussed the plan and in April this year reaffirmed it. Following that, the Manufacturers Association filed another petition demanding that the CCP's second decision be reversed and a substantial discussion of objections to the plan be filed against a researcher as is customary in the process of depositing a plan. In particular, a discussion of the separation distances between the source of risk - Port of Ashdod - and the new neighborhood.
 This time, too, Gideon accepted the union petition and ruled that "the author's decision is in clear contravention of the previous ruling (which ordered the cancellation of the plan's approval, which is a final judgment). The reasoned explanations for why the plan is not already approved at this stage may not , I believe, to be accepted now, and should not be examined for their bodies, in light of the ruling.
Chairman of the Manufacturing Association's Information Committee, Dr. Ron Tomer, said: "Instead of thousands of Israelis being surprised that the apartment they purchased is adjacent to the port where industrial activity is taking place, it is best to think before planning housing complexes. While the state and municipality did not consider those future residents and the impact of a residential neighborhood adjacent to a large port, at least the court functioned as a responsible adult and prevented this expected default. The Manufacturers Association will continue to fight resolutely to enable the development of infrastructure that will help the industry and enable it to grow and be as competitive as demonstrated in this case. "