Tel Aviv Court Voids Nighttime Seating Permits on Nahalat Binyamin

A Tel Aviv court has ruled against the municipality's policy of issuing nighttime permits for placing tables and chairs on the roadway and sidewalks of a popular section of Nahalat Binyamin Street, between Kuliper and Montefiore streets. Judge Limor Bibi of the Tel Aviv District Court for Administrative Affairs partially upheld a petition filed by a local property owner, represented by Adv. Yuval Galon, head of the planning and zoning department at Amit Pollak Matalon & Co.

The court determined that the municipality carried out a de facto rezoning of the street—changing its statutory designation from a thoroughfare meant for transit into a mass entertainment zone—without going through the proper statutory planning procedures that ensure transparency and public participation. Judge Bibi emphasized that creating such nightlife hubs through administrative decisions rather than formal planning bypasses residents' rights to object or seek compensation for property devaluation under the Planning and Building Law.

Under the court's transitional directives, existing permits will expire within six months or upon their scheduled expiration date, whichever comes first, and the municipality will not issue new permits for roadway and sidewalk seating in this section. However, the court rejected challenges against the traffic arrangement banning vehicles in the evening and the general nighttime business permits, ruling that these fell within proper authority. The municipality was ordered to pay the petitioner 10,000 NIS in legal costs, and the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality stated it would review the ruling.