Housing Project at the Weizmann Institute of Science

Here is a short report of the meeting the ``vaadat higui''.

Thursday, September 9

Present: Niki, Yonathan, Gad Kober Israel Bar-Yosef, Aldo Shemesh, Amnon Horowitz, Daniel Zajfman, Eliezer Ronen

1. A short report was given by Gad on the overall schedule of the project. The project has not yet been accepted by the city committee, but serious meeting between the institute people and Shuki Forer (the mayor of Rehovot) have taken place during the last two weeks, and it was promised by Forer that the whole project will be accepted by the city early October (this year...).
2. Based on point (1) above, and assuming that the city gives it's agreement early October, the plans will have to go to the regional committee (Vahada Mahozit), where it should take between 3 to 4 months to be accepted (including afkada). Thus, the optimistic scenario is that the project will be accepted in about 4 to 5 months, and that by the end of February, the construction of the HOUSES could start. This does not mean that the infrastructure work could not start before, and it is planned that this part, which should take about 3-4 months, could start once (1) The city of Rehovot has approved the project and (2) We have signed the contract.
3. A intense discussion took place about deviation from the rules of construction. Among these, the fact that in some plans (14) the "hazer meshek" has been included in the house is against the law. Also, building living rooms as well as sanitary (showers and bathrooms) in the basement is forbidden. Two plans had an additional entrance directly to the basement, which is also forbidden. These points are forbidden by law, not only from the Institute point of view, but also from the "civil" regulation point of view. Thus, we ask ALL people who have overlooked these regulations to go back to their own architect, and redesigned the faulty part(s) (see point (4) below).
4. It was made clear that most of these faulty parts in the design were in fact known by Niki, who had for example, agreed to the anexation of the Hatzer Meshek and the conversion of the basement to living quarter, because he knew that these acts are done by many people who built their houses. However, this does not take into account the special circumstances of building on campus, with WIS involvement, rules etc.. Thus, clearly the tenants cannot take responsibility for such mistakes, and it has been agreed by the Institute that the price for this re-design WILL NOT BE PAID BY THE TENANTS. It is the Institute responsibility to work out the scheme.
5. We recommend, before you do any changes, to get an exact value of the surface of your house, specially those building 180 m^2. Based on some numbers we have got, some of the houses are less than 180 m^2, and you may want to make some changes (that's true even for those who have no "illegal" issues in their plans.

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