Planning and Zoning

The Planning and Zoning Department at Yossi Levy & Co. has extensive experience and wide-ranging expertise in complex planning and construction proceedings, both in large-scale infrastructure projects in Israel and in real estate projects in other fields. The department represents and provides counsel to the firm’s clients in numerous planning and licensing procedures before all Israeli planning institutions, at the local and national level, both on the part of the initiators of the proceedings and in objections directed toward them before the Administrative Courts and the Supreme Court, as well as in proceedings before the District Appeals Committees. The firm has vast expertise and experience in representing legal proceedings relating to diminished value claims under the Planning and Zoning Law, and has represented hundreds of diminished value claims worth hundreds of millions of shekels. Additionally, the firm has wide-ranging experience in representing various entities in claims for expropriation compensation, and other objections and procedures. The Planning and Zoning Department has many years of experience in proceedings relating to land expropriation, including exclusive and preliminary proceedings that were first handled in Israel by our department, such as the expropriation of land in the subsoil as part of the construction of the Carmel Tunnels. The Planning and Zoning Department provides ongoing legal assistance regarding large-scale infrastructure projects in Israel and furnishes opinions and regular legal advice, both from a statutory and a proprietary aspect. We assist in the negotiations and the drafting of agreements and provide representation in legal proceedings, if necessary, throughout the establishment of these projects. These large-scale infrastructure projects include Highway 431 and 531, the Eastern Railway, the Fourth Railway in Ayalon, the upgrading of national roads such as Highway 77, Highway 31, Highway 4, the Krayot bypass road, and the construction of many other interchanges. Furthermore, the Planning and Zoning Department represents procedures relating to land betterment taxes, handling payment demands, and representation before appeal committees, appraisers, and court proceedings. The department has unique experience in assisting local authorities in the process of signing construction umbrella agreements. In this framework, we are able to provide tailored legal counsel to all the relevant parties, including various government ministries, the Israel Land Authority, and other relevant authorities. Our firm assists various authorities during the implementation of such umbrella agreements, including the construction of residential neighborhoods, the establishment of the necessary infrastructure, representation vis-à-vis entrepreneurs and owner rights, and ongoing advice during the planning. As part of its activities, the Planning and Zoning Department is asked to provide counsel to various legislative proceedings. In this framework, the department participates in meetings of various Knesset committees, as well as commissions of numerous administrative bodies, such as the National Planning and Zoning Council. Our Planning and Zoning Department is consistently ranked in a variety of quality rankings as a one of the leading departments in the field.