Court Halts Tel Aviv Land Rights Lottery Over Soil Contamination

A Tel Aviv court has halted the lottery for land rights in the Gush HaGadol area of northern Tel Aviv due to soil contamination discovered in the adjacent Sde Dov district. The court ruled that the lottery for private rights holders cannot proceed until the extent of PFAS contamination in the soil and groundwater is clarified and its potential impact on the value of the rights is understood.

Judge Yaakov Shaked of the Herzliya Magistrate's Court stated that there is insufficient data to determine if the contamination levels vary across different sectors. Such variations in contamination extent, cleanup duration, or cost could affect the value of the land parcels and necessitate adjustments to the allocation coefficients for the rights holders.

The Gush HaGadol area spans hundreds of dunams, with rights managed since the 1970s. The current dispute concerns the western part of the land, which has undergone planning processes since the Sde Dov airport was evacuated. Private rights holders are slated to receive rights to approximately 3,300 housing units across three sectors, with a lottery mechanism established in 2022 to manage the allocation.

Concerns arose in March when PFAS contamination was detected in the soil and groundwater during tests mandated by the Ministry of Environmental Protection. Some plots, including specific lots in the "Eshkol" sector and another sector, are located in areas with suspected contamination requiring extensive soil sampling. The Israel Land Authority (ILA) has indicated that testing procedures are ongoing and may take another month for approval, with a detailed update due to the court by October 6.

While some rights holders and the lottery committee chairman advocated for proceeding with the sector lottery, arguing it would not significantly advance construction without resolving the contamination, others opposed it. They contended that unequal contamination levels could lead to an inequitable distribution of rights, impacting property values and unit allocations. The court sided with the latter, emphasizing that proceeding with the lottery based on pre-contamination coefficients could result in an unfair division of rights worth billions of shekels. The judge noted that a future reallocation would be complex and disruptive.