Sea & Sun: the public wins back the beach

 

October 2005

 

An agreement has been signed between IUED and the developers of the Sea & Sun complex in north Tel Aviv and owners of apartments on its western side that will restore to the public a valuable piece of the Mediterranean shoreline.

 

The agreement is the result of a precedent-setting lawsuit field by IUED in 1998. The Tel Aviv Magistrates Court ruled in IUED’s favor in 2002 and ordered apartment owners and the Aviv Construction Company to restore the beachfront, illegally encroached upon, to its natural state.

 

After stalling and then appealing to the District Court, Sea & Sun’s attorneys asked IUED to negotiate a practicable solution. After months of mediation conducted by Per Visner, deputy mayor of Tel Aviv, agreement was reached in September.

 

IUED’s lawsuit against Sea & Sun was one of the first public actions protesting illegal coastal construction during the real estate boom of the 1990s.

 

Eli Ben Ari, IUED attorney who filed the Sea & Sun case, points out that the massive complex should never have been built within the 100-meter construction-free coastal zone in the first place. The absence at the time of a stringent legal framework allowed planning authorities to turn a blind eye to Sea & Sun’s flagrant violations of planning norms.

 

Extensive earthworks, walls, private gardens, barriers and a leveling of a wide stretch of the sandstone cliffs in front of Sea & Sun combined to turn the complex into a much-reviled eyesore.  Its notoriety was actually helpful to IUED and the Coastal Forum of NGOs in persuading lawmakers to enact the Coastline Protection Law in 2004.  Moreover, the long-running lawsuit sent a clear message to other potential developers that the public would not tolerate destruction of public beaches for private dwellings.

 

The developers, Aviv Construction Co., have now undertaken to restore the area within 12 months of receiving permits. Landscape rehabilitation is estimated to cost around $1 million, and the City of Tel Aviv will undertake other infrastructure improvements at the public beach at the same time. The restoration project will be overseen by a marine geologist experienced in coastline protection.

 

As Ben Ari notes, “The agreement presents the best practicable solution to this particular usurpation of the shoreline.  It’s a clear win for the public.”