"The planning situation as of today has not changed, apart from the fact that on January 29,2017, the local committee decided to recommend to a district committee the publication of a notice under section 77 of the Planning and Building Law regarding the preparation of a plan for the stadium and its surroundings. The material for publication has not yet been submitted to the district committee, and the plan itself has not yet been submitted.
It should be recalled that even recently, the Supreme Court reiterated previous rulings regarding the consideration of planning considerations, and regarding the authority of the Minister of the Interior under section 188 of the Municipalities Ordinance, ruled that "planning considerations intended for the municipality to act lawfully and not to publish a tender that it is unable to implement are not extraneous considerations. These are relevant considerations that the Minister of the Interior should have considered" (High Court of Justice 4336/15 Bat Yam Beach Company for Entrepreneurship and Development Ltd. v. Ministry of the Interior, published in Nevo).
It should be recalled once again that the Ministry of the Interior has commented several times in the past to the Bat Yam Municipality that it must publish tenders in a manner that corresponds to the planning situation in force. If the municipality wishes to make use of its land not in accordance with the plan, it must first make the planning changes, and only then publish a tender in a manner that will be consistent with the approved plans.
Among other things, and according to past experience, the municipality's modus operandi leads to a financial loss for the municipality, as it leads to a significant reduction in the consideration received for the land. As stated, in our case, no consideration is received by the municipality. In addition, this course of action adds a significant element of uncertainty in the framework of the tender process and in the framework of the execution of the contract, when there is a wide opening to the possibility that in the end the plan will not be approved in accordance with the expected in the tender or will be approved with changes, which will in practice lead to changes in the execution of the contract.
- This was, therefore, an explicit letter in which the Ministry of the Interior made it clear to the Municipality that it would not approve tenders that do not conform to the planning situation applicable to the land, since the Municipality's mode of operation leads to a significant reduction in the consideration received for the land.
The Ministry of the Interior also noted that it had commented to the municipality several times in the past that it must publish tenders in a manner that is consistent with the current planning situation, and that if the municipality wishes to make use of its land not in accordance with the plan, it must first make the planning changes, and only then publish a tender in a manner that will be consistent with the approved plans.