ISRAEL Law and Practice Contributed by: Hagit Bavly and Adi Daniel Zamir, Arnon, Tadmor-Levy
4.5 Right of Appeal Against an Authority’s Decision
centres and the regulations for the construction of parking spaces, as some of the effort in this respect is directed towards massive reduction of parking space allocations and stipulation of a maximum of applicable parking space construc - tion, to make it harder to use private cars and to encourage use of public transportation. A public transportation project is in progress and works are currently being carried out in many regions of Israel, with some transportation lines having already begun operation. 4.4 Obtaining Entitlements to Develop a New Project All “construction work”, which is defined very broadly under Israeli law, requires a building permit from the applicable local planning and construction committee. A building permit must comply with all plans that govern the relevant land in terms of the land-to- building ratio, location within the lot boundaries, height, designated use, etc. An owner of real estate property who wishes to construct a building that will not comply with the current plans can apply for a specific city plan. If such a specific plan conflicts with other plans of higher hierarchy, it may also have to be approved by the regional planning and construction com - mittee if it conflicts with regional plans, or by the National Planning and Construction Council if it conflicts with nationwide plans, etc. Anyone who sees themself as adversely affected were a proposed plan to be approved may file an objection to the proposed plan. The planning bodies will examine the proposed plan and the objections. It is not possible to object to an application for a building permit that complies with the governing building plans.
Planning committees’ decisions to approve or reject a plan or an application for a conces - sion relief or exceptional use (use that does not comply with the zoning) can be appealed to the Appellate Board or the Administrative Courts. Decisions of the Administrative Courts can be appealed to the High Court of Justice, subject to receiving leave to appeal. As stated previously, it is not possible to object to an application for a building permit that com - plies with the governing building plans. 4.6 Agreements With Local or Governmental Authorities In some cases, a permit for new construction requires performance of certain development works in the vicinity of the property, regarding traffic, utilities, etc. The local authority charges development levy from the applicant for this purpose, which is usually a “one-time” charge (not a repeated charge), calculated according to the size of the lot and the intended scope of the new construction. The local authority may, in rare cases, require the developer to perform such works on account of payment of the devel - opment levy. 4.7 Enforcement of Restrictions on Development and Designated Use The Planning and Construction Law is a penal code, and is enforced by the law enforcement agencies, including municipal inspectors. A per - son or entity may face enforcement actions and be exposed to criminal and financial sanctions if they: • violate the Planning and Construction Law;
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