The Regional Construction and Planning Board for Jerusalem has approved 910 housing units in Har Homa, 900 in western Pisgat Ze'ev, and several dozen in Har Nof.
Har Homa is located in southern Jerusalem, between Tzur Baher and Talpiot on the northeast, and Bethlehem on the south. Its new neighborhood, called Homat Shmuel C in memory of the city's late and beloved Deputy Mayor Shmuel Meir, will be located in the southeast corner of Har Homa. The project was initiated by the Housing Ministry, will take up some 300 dunams (75 acres), and will be flanked on two sides by forest area.
Har Homa
The new Har Homa hilltop project will be unique in that its buildings, between five and nine stories in height, will reach the same absolute height, forming a flat skyline. Ample space has been allocated for communal buildings and public parks.
Pisgat Ze'ev
The Regional Planning Board also approved 900 units in the north-Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Ze'ev, which already has a population of close to 50,000. The project will be less roomy than in Har Homa, taking up only 140 dunams (35 acres), and will be situated west of Moshe Dayan Blvd. - close to the route of the city's not-yet-completed light railway.
The new plan changes the zoning plans of the area from "industry and stores" to residential, in keeping with the goal of concentrating industrial areas in just a few locations.
Har Nof
The board also approved some 90 units in the religious neighborhood of Har Nof, specifically for a group of soon-to-be new immigrants from Venezuela. The new project will afford the Venezuelan Jews the opportunity to continue to live together in one community.
Jerusalem is Israel's largest city in terms of both population and physical size. Close to 750,000 people live in Jerusalem, a third of whom are Arabs, and the municipality controls 126,300 dunams (nearly 50 square miles). By way of comparison, Tel Aviv has 390,000 residents, on 51,000 dunams (20 square miles).