The plan is for 1200 apartments in Southwest Bet Shemesh. The main change is that the plans will include some very tall buildings - some of them as tall as 12 story buildings, thus making it more compatible for the non-haredi community than for the Haredi community.
It is generally thought that Haredim avoid buying in high-rise buildings because they try to avoid using "Shabbos elevators" and do not want to have to walk up so many flights of stairs. This is why the other neighborhoods of RBS C, D and E have been planned with buildings that are maximum 5 stories tall.
The plans include a section for commerce, business, public buildings, schools, medical center, gas station, a neighborhood park and a large park.
I do not know how this will affect the opposition to the construction plans of new neighborhoods. Will they still be opposed as being built only for Haredim? This might not affect the complaints coming from the environmentalists, but those from the social perspective might lose their main argument. I hope and expect that community leaders in Bet Shemesh will work to put together buyers groups and try to attract young couples and families to buy in this new neighborhood, if it will be approved.
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This doesn't really make sense to me as most of the buildings in the kirya charedit (certainly the ones that you see when you drive down the back road towards the station) are at least 10 stories high....
ReplyDelete10 story buildings can be built on hillsides. That way the entrance level can actually be in the middle of the building, with the lower 5 floors running down the side of the hill, and only 5 stories extending above that entrance level. 5 stories up, and 5 stories down. No 10 story climb.
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