July 24, 2026
Hello, everyone. Well,
This coming Tuesday, July 28, 2026, there will be a special council meeting. Below is the agenda, which includes various topics. You are invited to attend the meeting, which will take place at 6:00 p.m. on the fourth floor of the City Council building. Or you can watch the live stream (or the recording afterward) –
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCroNWtlM8YInsjPf3Tv_uXQ/live
This week’s newsletter covers three topics: the first and last are very brief, while the second, main topic is the most detailed.
1. Both I and you, the residents, are still waiting for answers regarding the Lange complex
The long-standing agreement signed by the council chair with the Open University—which transferred to the council the leased lands belonging to the Israel Land Authority—has still not been shared with us, the council members. Although, according to a legal review I conducted, this is a land agreement that requires the approval of the full council. And it is not on the agenda for next week’s meeting!!
Furthermore, neither I nor any of the residents have yet received a response from the council chair to a very simple question that she surely knows the answer to: Does the land that the Open University transferred to us also include the parking lot where the Maccabi Purim festival is held? This is the area for which the landowner—the Israel Land Authority—submitted a plan to build 130 housing units. This plan was rejected during Ziv’s term. Therefore, it is important to ensure that the preservation of the area also includes this parking lot and that a residential neighborhood is not built on it.
2. Information from the public meeting on the topic—the start of construction in Givat Zamarin
On Tuesday of this week, the council head held a public meeting where Plan S/916 B for Givat Zamarin was presented to the public. The meeting lasted two hours and provided residents with a great deal of important information. Therefore, most of this newsletter will be devoted to this topic. It’s important for you to know what’s going to be built, what the most important question asked by a young mother was, and why the answer she received should concern us all.
A brief background for those who aren’t familiar: Zamarin is the historic hill where the first settlers of Zichron Ya’akov arrived in 1882. It was from here that Zichron Ya’akov grew in its early years. Today, the hill is mostly empty—it’s home to the Zigo Café (formerly the Adama Restaurant) and a number of residential buildings, some of which are over 100 years old. On its outskirts, on HaNadi’v Street—which is not included in this construction plan—are the Telem supermarket (formerly 10to10), the garage, and the Carmel Bistro.
The hall was filled with landowners, real estate agents, real estate professionals, and residents. Unlike the previous meeting regarding the winery project and the large residential neighborhood at the eastern entrance—which will be built by three major developers who own the land—Givat Zamarin involves owners of smaller plots.
The Zamarin plan, approved in 2016, establishes a very detailed zoning plan for the complex. In order for the area to be ready for occupancy, the council must complete detailed planning and begin constructing the various infrastructure projects required on the hill so that each plot owner can submit plans to build what is permitted on their plot—residential, commercial, or tourism—and connect to the infrastructure.
I would like to remind you that the 2024 elections were precisely about this issue — community, environment, and education versus real estate and accelerated development. Our “For the Colony” faction proposed preserving the character of the community and pursuing sensible development tailored to the community’s carrying capacity, while addressing the needs of all residents, not just developers. Abutbul was elected, and at this week’s meeting he said, “I’ve returned to complete this project.” He also said that Zichron is like Jerusalem and that we have a rich history that we must develop and use to attract tourists here. I think Zichron doesn’t have the resources that Jerusalem does to establish and maintain so many tourism projects. Most residents don’t make a living from tourism and are likely not interested in funding construction for tourists who will fill the town.
According to the council head, in about four months the bulldozers will begin work on the site and build the complex infrastructure required for the Zamarin neighborhood. At the meeting, we were presented with the plan for the public spaces, roads, lighting, water, and sewage systems to be built on this hill. It’s a very complex undertaking due to the topography of the site and the location of the existing structures. Once the bulldozers start work, it will take about two more years for the neighborhood’s infrastructure to be fully completed. Construction of the entire neighborhood also depends on the pace of construction by private landowners. They received important news yesterday: they can now submit their plans and obtain permits. However, this is only in accordance with the lot’s zoning plan and subject to the detailed infrastructure plan, so that the zoning plan’s mix is preserved. As is customary in new neighborhoods, the public spaces will be developed last and are expected to include flower beds, trees, benches, a perimeter promenade on the northwest side, and two public areas with pergolas.
The design language of the new neighborhood will be identical to that of the existing pedestrian mall in terms of lighting, sidewalks, and all other elements. The goal is to create a continuous pedestrian route between the existing pedestrian mall and the new one, which will extend from the Bendik store area along the entire length of HaNadiav Street to the winery, with Zamarin integrated into this route. Regarding the buildings that already exist in Zamarin today—they cannot be demolished and are protected under the Preservation Law; the council intends to require the building owners to modify their exterior appearance to match the new design. A tour of the neighborhood reveals that several historic buildings require immediate reinforcement to prevent their collapse. The council has the legal authority to enforce this, and I hope it will act before it is too late.
The zoning plan for the Zamarin neighborhood permits buildings up to a height of 8.5–9.5 meters, which is equivalent to two stories above ground level. I very much hope that no height exemptions will be approved, as it is important to preserve a tourism and arts complex that blends into the landscape rather than marring it.
The council head reiterated what he had already said during the presentation of the winery project and the large residential neighborhood there—the entire eastern side of Zichron Ya’akov, starting at Beit El Square, is about to undergo a complete transformation. This involves several large projects that will develop the eastern side:
- The entire eastern hill where the winery and its massive stainless-steel tanks are located is set to be transformed into a residential neighborhood of 200 apartments that will be integrated into a complex of streets dedicated to tourism and a hotel to be built there. The winery building will be preserved and will likely house shops, an event hall, galleries, and even a boutique winery operated by Carmel Wineries, where the brand’s premium wines will be produced. (See details in Newsletter 85 on my website—https://4zichron.org/home-he.php)
- On the western hill, which is part of Plan Sh/1058, there is additional land not related to the winery project—land on which a residential neighborhood of 250 units under various ownerships will be built, so that in about ten years, the entire eastern entrance to Zichron Ya’akov (Beit El Square) will look completely different—it will feature a residential neighborhood of hundreds of units as well as a tourism and entertainment complex centered around the historic winery.
- Two new entry and exit roads on the eastern side. The ascent to Zichron Ya’akov from Beit El Square will end right next to the winery building, and vehicles will continue left onto a new road that will wind its way up to the center of Jabotinsky Street. The new road will pass where the council’s operations complex and the Ronis store are currently located—in the old oil press building owned by the Agricultural Committee, which is a designated historic building—as well as the Carmel Winery’s bottle-filling/barrel-aging facility, which is also a designated historic building. On the new road, near the Bendik warehouses, a roundabout is planned where vehicles will be able to turn right onto a new access road reserved exclusively for residents of Wine Street and Givat Zamarin, as well as the hotels to be built there. Vehicles will not be permitted to turn onto Hanadiv Street, which will be converted into a pedestrian mall. The council head noted that the cost of developing these roads will amount to 90 million NIS, and this figure will also be presented to the public in due course.
- Givat Zamarin.
Givat Zamarin will be a gated community—entrance gates will allow only homeowners and business owners to enter by car and park in the private parking spaces they will build for themselves. No vehicles will be allowed to drive freely within the neighborhood, and there will be no public parking inside the neighborhood. The goal is for pedestrians to stroll among the galleries, cafés, bed-and-breakfasts, and the hotel to be built there. It will be a fairly small, circular neighborhood with few permanent residents but many tourists staying overnight and exploring.
According to the plan presented, there will be a small parking lot at the entrance to Zamarin with 15 parking spaces, plus another 200 parking spaces to be built as part of the larger winery project. This will be an underground parking garage on the western side of the winery (the operational side of the winery, which currently stands empty); the garage will have elevators and stairs that will take parkers up to the level of Hanadiv Street, from where they will walk into Zamarin. The council chairman said that the winery, as the developer, has committed to building this parking lot. I find it hard to believe that this capacity will be sufficient for the number of tourists they are expecting. Of course, landowners who wish to build parking spaces on their own lots will be able to do so if their plans are approved. However, they will be required to pay a parking fee to the council if they do not provide the required number of parking spaces.
Those present at this week’s meeting asked many questions, and the council head responded patiently, noting that he was not referring to specific plots and that some details have not yet been finalized. For example, will the Ministry of Transportation permit shuttles or golf carts to transport people from the entrance to Zamarin to their hotels, or to transport tourists from the parking lot into Zamarin?
The most important question, in my view, was asked by a young mother who was born in Zichron Ya’akov and chose to return to live there with her family. She doesn’t own a lot in Zamarin, and she doesn’t make a living from tourism. She’s a resident who chose to live here because of the potential for quality of life that this place offers. She’s just like me—and I imagine, like most of you. She spoke from the heart when she told the council head: “The town’s infrastructure is collapsing; even today we’re stuck in traffic jams that didn’t exist here before. And now you’re building to bring in huge numbers of tourists. How will the infrastructure handle such large numbers of tourists? Zichron is no longer for memories but for tourists!!”
The council head replied that he was born in Zichron when it had 3,000 residents, and since then it has grown and grown yet still supports all its residents. He explained that he built the Halomot neighborhood and added another 750 housing units—and that’s how more residents arrived, and the town managed to accommodate them. And while it’s true there are traffic jams, that’s just how it is in a town where 90% of the residents work outside the town. There will always be waves of traffic jams in the morning and in the afternoon when people return from work and everyone is picking up their children from school and daycare.
It was clear that the answer didn’t reassure her. On the contrary, it angered her even more. She and her friend—also a young mother—got up and left.
I thought to myself: This is how the head of the real estate council operates, not the head of the residents’ council. Our faction warned about the construction tornado and the high costs of building and maintaining these projects. And now we’re only at the beginning of this tornado. Already today, most of the municipality’s funds are going toward planning construction projects. Many millions are going to the architects and planners of all these construction ventures. And there’s no money left for repairing roads and sidewalks, for free summer activities for families with children, or for the La Strada festival that used to take place every Thursday on the pedestrian mall and brought so much joy and economic activity. And it will only get worse—because every year, the council will have to spend millions maintaining all these construction projects. And they’ve never presented us council members with a comprehensive plan for all these construction projects; there’s never been a discussion about how much property tax revenue these projects will generate compared to how much it will cost to maintain them from the operating budget. There has never been a comprehensive discussion about what residents actually want or what they actually need. Zero discussion. Zero transparency.
The head of the Real Estate Council does hold meetings for residents, but he merely presents existing plans; he doesn’t ask questions—he just announces what will happen. And I can picture in my mind’s eye all the developers and contractors swarming the town—building, and building yet another hotel, yet more stores that will stand empty because even today there are empty stores on the pedestrian mall. And we’re the ones who’ll be stuck in traffic on the way to work and when taking the kids to preschool or the community center.
3. Students from Zichron Ya’akov—now is the time to apply for Mifal HaPais scholarships, until August 31
A scholarship in the amount of 10,000 NIS, in exchange for 140 hours of service and contribution to our wonderful community.
Who can apply?
✔️ Residents of Zichron Ya’akov
✔️ Students at an academic institution recognized by the Council for Higher Education
Acceptance is contingent upon passing a personal interview. Attached is a link to submit a scholarship application.