The Municipality filed its petition to Bagatz against the flights

On Wednesday this week, July 21st, the Modiin Municipality filed its petition to Bagatz against the flights. The petition was filed against the Israeli government, in particular the offices of Interior, Environmental Protection, Transportation and the Aviation Authorities. Bagatz instructed the government offices to submit an initial response within 14 days, and will schedule a hearing after the court recess.

The Modiin Municipality petition focuses on a demand to the ministry of interior to conduct the due process to change the national outline plan (תמ”א) which does not include the new LDA landing path over Modiin, so that Modiin Municipality is afforded the chance to present its arguments and to demand compensation for the introduction of a new flight path over the city which damages the quality of life of its residents. It should be emphasized that this process will not stop the flights over the city.

This petition has been expanded by a demand to Bagatz to issue an intermediate injunction to prevent the night flights on the grounds of statements issued to Bagatz by the Aviation Authorities over a year ago. The petition also demands that Bagatz issue a ruling that after the runway works in Ben Gurion Airport are concluded (expected in 3.5 years) that the LDA landing path over Modiin will be declared null and void.

As explained in an earlier post, the problem is that Modiin Municipality erased its petition in June 2009, and thus it is essentially relying on a dead process, that was succeeded by a new process with totally different parameters, that resulted with the CAA decision issued in April 2010.

The Modiin Municipality embraced the CAA decision document, overlooking the fact that there was no mention of the hours which this landing path will be used. The petition also does not address the claims by the CAA that the night flights are required for long range flights with heavy cargo who need the longer runway 30.

The Modiin Municipality petition is so desperate that it even references quotes from Joshua book chapter six about how the city of Jericho was brought down with the shofar, in order to claim that it is analogous to the noise from which Modiin residents are suffering.

Council Member Danny Rosenfeld issued a sharp letter to Mayor Bibas in which he pointed out the discrepancies the petition submitted and between Mayor Bibas declarations to city council last week about the petition being against the new landing path and not just against the night flights, and protested the fact that the mayor did not even send a copy of the petition to city council members.. Council member Rosenfeld demanded that mayor Bibas modify the petition so that it is compatible with his statements to city council.

We hope that the petition is successful , although at this time it seems that it will require nothing short of the miracle that brought down the walls of Jericho…

For more details please see our post on our Hebrew website.

The Municipality to Petition the Supreme Court against the Night Flights – but its Chances Appear Slim

On Monday this week the Municipality issued the following press release (translation to English courtesy of Modiinfo):

Municipality to Petition the High Court Against the Night-time Landing Path

The city's management met last night (Monday) in order to discuss the latest developments regarding the nighttime flights over the city.

During the discussion, it was agreed that the city cannot function properly with the noise disturbances caused by the planes and the disruption of the residents' quality of life. It was therefore decided to petition the High Court against the nighttime landing route above the city.

The route is a blatant violation of the entire process that began when the Civil Aviation Authority and the Israel Airports Authority declared in front of the High Court that "the procession will run only during the afternoon hours, depending on the direction of the wind. We are only speaking about approximately 30 landings on weekdays, and around 20 on weekends. The procession is only temporary until Route 30 is renewed, planned, and implemented."

The municipality will hire the services of the former head of the CAA, a pilot and Israeli aviation expert, Neri Yarkoni, esq. In the past, Yarkoni has represented a number of authorities against the CAA and the IAA, and today leads the Holon area against a night-time flight plan similar to the one affecting Modiin.

Yarkoni will join the Municipality Legal Advisor, Dana Chafetz-Tokler, Esq, Einav Livna, Esq, from the Legal Department, and Ayal Mamo, Esq. and Avi Portman, Esq. from Agmon Attorneys.

The basis for the petition as stated above are statements made by the aviation authorities to Bagatz well over a year ago. The problem is that Modiin Municipality erased its petition in June 2009, and thus it is essentially relying on a dead process, that was succeeded by a new process with totally different parameters.

Following the resident protests organized by Clear Skies in July 2009, the municipality and the CAA entered into a new process, in which the CAA evaluated the Modiin Municipality’s proposed landing path. This process culminated in the CAA decision published last April, which included a reduced forecast of 5-10 flights expected to fly over Modiin, but on the other hand the CAA decision did not include even a single word about any restrictions on what hours flights will take place over Modiin.

Instead of appealing to Bagatz against the CAA decision as Clear Skies proposed, the Modiin Municipality embraced the CAA decision document, overlooking the fact that there was no mention of the hours which this landing path will be used. The Modiin Mayor Haim Bibas put his faith in the forecast cited in the CAA document and in the trust relations with head of CAA, Giora Rom.

Thus Clear Skies believes that the appeal to Bagatz has very slim chances of success, and that it is mostly aimed to convey to Modiin residents that its Municipality is doing everything it can to stop the night flights that are disturbing the sleep of its residents.

We sincerely hope that the Municipality’s legal team has some tricks up their sleeves that they are not sharing with us, and that our assessment above will ultimately be proven wrong.

For more details see the post on our Hebrew Website.

The CAA: Oops, Our Forecast was Wrong…

The new LDA landing path over Modiin started operating on July 1st 2010, and ever since then Modiin residents have been suffering from noisy flights every night. Click here to watch a short video filmed by Clear Skies activist Ezi Shabi of these night flights over Cramim neighborhood (Tsipor).

Last Thursday the CAA informed Modiin Municipality that they are forced to open landing window between 11:30PM and 01:00AM for long range flights who carry heavier loads and require the longer runway 30. While the LDA landing path over Modiin is considered by the aviation authorities as the last priority during the day, it is considered by the aviation authorities as the only option during the night for flights landing on runway 30.

BTW, the experienced airline captain who consulted Clear Skies and the Municipality stated that flights can land over Ben Shemen forest (instead of over Modiin) also at night when good weather conditions exist, but the CAA rejected his opinion.

As result of the night flights Bibas sent an angry letter to the head of CAA, Giora Rom, claiming that the agreements between the sides were breached and threatened to appeal to Bagatz.

The aviation authorities responded that there was never any agreement between the aviation authorities and the Modiin Municipality - and they are correct. The CAA decision was a one sided document, which Modiin Municipality did not even receive a draft in advance to provide its comments and feedback – and the Modiin Municipality certainly is not a party to any agreement. The CAA worded its decision very carefully and provided what it termed as a “forecast” of 5-10 planes daily that would pass Modiin. In the CAA decision document there is no restriction regarding night flights.

It is precisely because that a “forecast” is such a nonbinding term and because there is no legal binding agreement between the the CAA and Modiin Municipality that Clear Skies pushed to appeal to Bagatz, in order to set clear restrictions to the use of the LDA landing path, and to set sanctions in case these restrictions are violated.

However mayor Bibas ignored all the warnings by Clear Skies and by council members Danny Rosenfeld and Alex Weinreb, and rejected our appeals to go to Bagatz, stating that he has complete faith in Giora Rom, head of the CAA. Bibas persuaded the great majority of the city council members to support his position, relying on these forecasts and presenting them as agreements. Mayor Bibas and the city council members ignored the hundreds of emails sent by Modiin residents responding to our request, urging the mayor and the council members to continue to struggle for clear skies.

Now we are all paying the price of Bibas’s gullibility, vanity and inability to heed others’ advise. 

The main obstacle to go to Bagatz now against a decision made by the CAA in April is that the supreme court rejects appeals that are not made in short proximity to the decision. Thus an appeal submitted by Modiin Municipality in July-August against a decision published in April may be rejected out of hand by the supreme court due to “shihuy” (delay).

We still hope that it is not to late to go to Bagatz, but the likelihood is that our quality of life will be significantly compromised over the next year and a half, and perhaps even longer.

For more information please see the detailed post in our Hebrew website.