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Funding, property issues thwart Sharon Park plan By Zafrir Rinat Tags: environment, Sharon Park  The largest park in Israel - Ariel Sharon Park, which is due to be established in the southern outskirts of Tel Aviv - is in the advanced planning stage. But the government corporation responsible for creating it is having trouble finding funding for the project, as well as obtaining control of the land earmarked for it. The planned park, located in the area of the Hiriya landfill, is slated to cover 8,000 dunams (2,000 acres), more than twice the size of Ganei Yehoshua (Hayarkon Park). As of now no budgetary allocation has been found that would allow for expropriating the land, currently zoned for agriculture, from its current tenants. In addition, the hundreds of millions of shekels needed for drainage work and environmental rehabilitation of certain areas included in the project are not guaranteed. So far the cabinet has approved an allocation of NIS 50 million, for a five-year period. In recent weeks alternatives to the large-scale drainage plan have been submitted to the relevant government corporation and the Tel Aviv district planning and building committee. One of the main aims of the plan is to prevent drain-off into the flood-prone neighborhoods of south Tel Aviv as well as the Ayalon Highway. Advertisement The alternative plans were submitted by a team headed by German landscape architect Prof. Peter Latz, and recently displayed in Berlin, together with plans he drew up for a park in London, with an eye to its playing host to the 2012 Olympic Games. The planned park will encompass Hiriya, the Mikveh Yisrael agricultural school, the existing Darom Park and local farmland. A large part of the area is to be transformed into a valley that will serve as a reservoir, and feature greenhouses and orchards as well as sports facilities and picnic areas. The main entrance to the park will be from the north. An amphitheater is being designed for that area, a collaborative effort with members of Sharon's family. A large visitors' center is planned at Hiriya, and the huge dump itself is going to be turned into an even more developed tourist site. "We are currently dealing with two important layers of the plan: sorting out the drainage problem, and the access," the director general of the park, Danny Sternberg, said. "Today there is no access to the various areas of the park. We want at least some of the project to be completed within five years, along with access to half of the area. We are about to come to an understanding with the Mikveh Yisrael school concerning fencing around it, and for the first time there will be free access to other areas of the institution." Part of the funding for the park's development is supposed to come from donations from bodies such as the Bracha Foundation, but these contributions are dependent on legal permission to use the land. "As long as the property is not transferred to the company it will be difficult to persuade donors to give money, because it's not clear whether the land will indeed be part of the park," explains foundation director Martin Weyl, the former director of the Israel Museum. "Today it is definitely possible to raise this type of funding, just as it is for museums or hospitals." The Israel Lands Administration is supposed to negotiate with those currently leasing the farmland that is due to become part of the project over its transfer to the government company. So far, the Tel Aviv municipality has agreed to withdraw its claim to lands in the Hiriya area. During a tour he led about two weeks ago for Meretz party members, Sternberg pointed out that funding is still needed to restore the landfill site. He says the Tel Aviv municipality must contribute to this effort financially, since most of the waste buried in the dump came from that city. In the meantime, landowners are waging an ongoing battle against the park, which they believe will violate their rights. Hazera Genetics, a company that owns some of the land, including the area of the proposed entrance to the park, has filed a series of lawsuits against the government company involved in the project. Approval of the drainage project by the relevant planning and construction bodies may help advance the plans for the park considerably, forcing the state to take action on expropriating the property so as to carry out the project, which is so critical to preventing serious damage to the entire area. "Despite the difficulties, it's important to remember that this is a long-term project that has the support of all government ministries and all the local authorities in the region," Sternberg notes. "It's a project that will be worthwhile for the state to invest in because it will increase the value of the land throughout the area, provide recreation and leisure sites, restore environmentally damaged areas and improve the quality of life. I intend to ask the Finance Ministry to conduct an assessment of the financial benefits that will accrue from the rise in property values in the area as a result of their proximity to the park and the opening of the area to the general public." Bookmark to del.icio.us   'Pilobolus in Israel' Now Israel's most beautiful sites can be visited in New York City. West Bank violence Palestinian woman dies after being shoved to the ground by IDF troops.

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