As I wrote in my last post, in Israel, zoning and building volume are controlled by the applicable Town Plan or "Taba". This is a legal document and basically tells you what you can do with your land. If you want to do something else with your land – well, you're going to have to make a request to change the Taba.
On a side note – many people ask me what the difference is between a "TABA" and "TABU". Well, apart from sounding similar and both having something to do with land, there's no other connection between the two. TABU is a form of registration of land ownership – basically the land book of Israeli plots and parcels. It is the strongest form of ownership of land that exists in Israel, and is basically incontrovertible proof of who owns the land and who else has any claims to it, liens on it etc. No all land or properties (apartments etc) are registered in TABU – far from it. If yours is, you're in a good position.
But I digress. Suffice to say, TABU is about land OWNERSHIP. TABA is about the PLANNING that is applicable to the land.
The TABA (or "Tochnit Binyan Arim" – City building Plan) is actually an acronym that doesn't specify any actual legal document. It's become a kind of slang used to describe most forms of Town Planning documents, but in fact there are several levels of planning documents, none of which is actually called by the Israeli Design and Building Law a "TABA".
Again, I'm aiming these posts at people who've recently arrived in Israel (or those who've been here a long time but never had to look into these matters before) and are looking to familiarize themselves with the procedures somewhat so they can move ahead with whatever they're looking to do without making any major blunders. That said, I'll keep it brief and stay away from the details – a need to know basis.
Town Planning documents come in three major levels (which can be broken down further and often are) – National, Regional, and Local plans. They are hierarchical, the top level defining what is permissible in the lower levels, and the lower levels detailing to a greater extent the more abstract top levels.
National plans are called TAMA – these govern the global planning strategies of Israel, including population density to be planned for in each city, how to protect our natural resources, planning for national infrastructures such as roads and natural gas, how to prepare for earthquakes and any number of other issues. They apply to the whole country.
Regional plans are called TAMAM – they specify to a greater degree the planning framework for each region of Israel (Northern Region, Jerusalem Region etc). They apply to the entire region.
Local Plans are referred to generically as the aforementioned "TABA", but are broken down into several levels – from broader to the most detailed. They can apply to anything from a whole city, down to a single plot of land.
So what does all this have to do with you? Well, if you're looking to purchase a piece of land, and want to know what can be done with it, or if you already own a house or apartment and want to know how much you can add to it, you'll need to know what the TABA allows. And if you want the TABA changed, you'll need to make sure that what you want to change is permissible by the TAMAM and so on up.
Of course you don't need to go into these details yourself, you can go into your local planning committee and ask for the information, or hire an architect who'll do it for you, but it's important to understand the concepts behind the words you'll hear thrown about, so you know what is and what is not possible, and don't leave yourselves at the mercy of the clerk at the planning department of your local council.
I've had people come to me after they'd used an engineer or "technai" to put in a plan for a building or addition, only to get knocked back because the construction wasn't even within the rights of the local council to grant! If you use a planning professional you'll be putting yourselves in a position of strength, making requests for permitting which are within your rights, and not wasting time and money on processes that lead nowhere.
More importantly, if your designer understands how to read, interpret and utilize the Town Plan, there is often a whole lot of room for creativity. This can be useful for getting the most out of you property – meaning a bigger return on your investment or a bigger house for your kids!
Recently, for example, I used a loophole of how a TABA was worded to allow a family already living in a house that was found not to have been built in concordance with the building permit. By sticking to the letter of the law, we were able to submit a permit change request that let them keep the house basically unchanged but this time the permit matched not what the local council had thought was said in the TABA, but what was actually said in the TABA. For the price of a quick permit change, the family saved the need to do a major overhaul on the house.
Like I wrote last week, the Town Plan can be detailed to a greater or lesser degree, but it will almost always govern the basic factors of the permissible usage of the land including:
· Type of use (residential, commercial etc),
· building volume (height, number of floors, total permissible built floor area, setbacks from property lines etc),
· and various aesthetic considerations (finish of facades, type of permissible roofs, treatment of utilities, site development restrictions etc).
The "Taba" is made up of a plan (the "tasrit") showing the different zoning regulations as they apply on the map of the land, and the directives (the "takanon") that apply to the zoning. A good architect will be able to review these documents and design a building that meets these basic limitations, while maximizing the benefits that you can gain from the property.
In the case that the Town Plan doesn't allow for what you want to build, there is always the possibility of having an architect request a change to the Taba at the regional level.
Well, there's your "TABA 101". Next post we'll discuss starting the design process.
As always, I'd be happy to hear your experiences – good and bad – as well as any feedback.
Miles Hartog, Architect
054 4364492
