Managers Push to Advance Land Allocation in Tel Aviv’s Shde Dov Despite Pollution Concerns

The Israel Land Authority (ILA) recently updated the Herzliya Magistrate’s Court on the progress of soil contamination tests in the Shde Dov neighborhood, part of ongoing land allocation proceedings among rights holders in the large block. The land lottery, intended to determine rights distribution between plots, was postponed from late June to August 11 after landowners requested a delay to clarify the contamination scope and its impact on land value. However, as of August 12, the ILA reported no test results yet, with testing plans still awaiting approval from the Ministry of Environmental Protection, a process expected to take another month before testing can proceed.

In light of these delays, the block’s managers petitioned the court to resume the lottery process, arguing that the initial expected delay of a few weeks has extended into months. They noted that all preparatory steps for the lottery have been completed and that the lottery concerns only the division between large plots, not the specific parcels, allowing it to proceed without waiting for contamination results. They also highlighted that contamination risks differ between the two main plots, with 46% of rights in the Eshkol plot and 56.8% in Plot 2 potentially affected, and that the Tel Aviv municipality’s handling of its own plots has not halted work on private parcels.

Judge Yaakov Shaked acknowledged the managers’ request but emphasized that the contamination extent remains unclear and its impact on the valuation multipliers set by appraiser Rosenberg is unknown. He requested the managers to submit Rosenberg’s opinion on this issue by a specified date. The land rights division process has been ongoing since 1975, with the court approving the rights table for about 1,700 owners only last year. The rights are divided among three areas: the southern Eshkol plot (about 818 housing units), Plot 2 (about 1,543 units), and plan TA/3700 in northwest Tel Aviv (about 360 units). The managers seek to move forward with the next allocation phase without further waiting for contamination test completion, which the state estimates will take additional time.