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NEWS
Special Arrangement for Ramat Shlomo Residents to Build
Additions to Their Apartments
By Betzalel Kahn
The Jerusalem Municipality approved a sweeping plan last week
that would allow Ramat Shlomo residents to build additions to
their apartments. Mayor Rabbi Uri Lupoliansky, who worked to
promote the issue, referred to it as a revolutionary plan to
assist residents of Ramat Shlomo, the neighborhood with the
highest percentage of large families in the city, to expand
their homes with relative ease rather than requiring them to
engage in the complex bureaucratic process normally required
to receive permits for apartment additions. The plan would
allow residents to build additions using a standard building
permit, sparing them the involved process needed for any
changes to the master city building plan as is usually
required.
Over the past year Deputy Mayor Rabbi Yehoshua Pollak,
chairman of the Planning and Construction Committee, worked
hard to prepare the plan with the help of a large team of
architects. Construction additions can be executed through
uniform additions to the neighborhood and the municipality
will allow additions to be built in empty spaces created in
the neighborhood due to the mountainous topography —
alongside buildings, on rooftops and by closing balconies.
"The building additions will not be made at the expense of
neighborhood lands designated for public use," said Rabbi
Pollak. "The future plan for the densification of Ramat
Shlomo calls for building contractors to set aside more
public space than typically designated for the construction
of religious, educational and public facilities that will
serve the residents of the longstanding neighborhood."
The first residents, primarily young couples, arrived in
Ramat Shlomo 12 years ago, while today most of the apartments
in the neighborhood are families blessed with a large number
of children. Other improvements are also being carried out in
the neighborhood, in part through the new master plan for
Jerusalem. Mayor Lupoliansky has called for large green belts
where complexes will be built to accommodate botei
knesses, botei medrash, mikvo'os and
educational and public facilities. Designated sites include
Nachal Tzofim between Ramat Shlomo and Sanhedria Murchevet,
and near Sderot Golda between Ramot Alef and Ramot Beit.
The plan calls for a 2,000-unit densification plan on the
northern edge of Ramat Shlomo, east of Beit Chanina-Shuafat,
as well as the construction of thousands of new housing units
on the eastern outskirts of Ramot Alef in the direction of
Beit Chanina, and on the western outskirts of the
neighborhood in the direction of Beit Ichsa.
The plan was drawn up with the help of a team of chareidi
architects who were in constant contact with the respective
neighborhood rabbonim in order to meet the neighborhoods'
needs. A six-story height limit was set and only limited
commercial space will be available to avoid altering the
quality of the area.
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