New J’lem master plan seeks to curb Old City overcrowding
By Nadav Shragai
Haaretz
14 Sept 04
Jerusalem officials unveiled a new master plan for the city yesterday,
the first since 1959.
Mayor Uri Lupolianksy, city engineer Uri Sheetrit, and the head of
the planning team, former Jerusalem district planner, Moshe Cohen,
presented the plan, which calls for “massive intervention” to prevent
overcrowding in the Old City.
The plan envisions using government funds to offer alternative housing
outside the Old City walls to interested Old City residents.
A similar plan was proposed in the past by an Interior Ministry team
that looked into the situation in the Old City at the behest of the
Ministerial Committee for Jerusalem Affairs.
However, it was not implemented due to its political sensitivity.
The plan involves thinning out the population in all quarters of the
Old City, except the only one restored so far – the Jewish Quarter –
as a means of slowing down the rapid population growth.
At 119.5 people per dunam, population density in the Old City is 10
to 20 times greater than other areas of the city, and growing.
Plan needs city approval
Lacking a master plan, the city has relied over the years on partial
plans.
The new, comprehensive 464-page plan, which deals with virtually
every aspect of life in the capital, needs to be discussed by the
local and district planning commissions before it can be approved.
The plan notes that a great deal of the illegal construction in
the Old City takes place in interior courtyards and on the roofs of
existing structures, especially in the Muslim Quarter but also in
the Christian and Armenian Quarters.
It calls for the reconstruction of the Anata refugee camp in northern
Jerusalem, although according to ideas put forward by Israeli
politicians in recent years, Anata will not be within the Jerusalem
city limits and will be transferred to the Palestinian Authority.
The plan also proposes tripling the size of neighborhood parks,
which now cover an area of 2,638 dunams.
The plan recommends keeping the present skyline, with its view of
the city’s landmarks.
It limits the height of buildings in some areas, while allowing
high-rise construction in others.
In the center of the city, the plan envisions construction of buildings
between 24 and 33 stories.