Suncheon City, Samsan Park Private Park Special Project Progressing Normally

Hanyang Sujain is under construction as an apartment complex in Samsan Park District (Photo by Suncheon City)

[Suncheon=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] On the 18th, Suncheon City announced that the Samsan Park private park special project, which some media outlets reported on the 14th as being likely to be suspended due to administrative procedure issues, is proceeding normally.

According to the reports, some landowners whose land was included in the project site claimed that receiving a small-scale environmental impact assessment instead of a full environmental impact assessment during the promotion of the Samsan Park private park special project was problematic. They filed a complaint requesting a construction halt with the Yeongsangang River Basin Environmental Office, the coordinating agency, and the related office is currently reviewing the construction suspension, leading to reports that the construction stoppage is highly likely.

The legal basis cited was that “the sum of the park facility area and the non-park facility area in the Samsan Park private park special project exceeds the standard 100,000㎡, totaling 300,244㎡, so it is subject to an environmental impact assessment under the Environmental Impact Assessment Act.”

The method of calculating the area cited as legal grounds in the article is a misinterpretation of the relevant law. According to Article 2 of the Park and Green Space Act, park facilities refer to the installation of roads, landscaping, recreation, amusement, exercise, convenience, and other facilities to fulfill the utility of urban parks. Therefore, the park facility area refers to the area where facilities are installed, not the entire park area.

Accordingly, Samsan Park’s combined area of park facilities (12,728㎡) and non-park facilities (80,411㎡) is 93,139㎡, which is less than 100,000㎡, and thus it is not subject to an environmental impact assessment.

Furthermore, the article cited the first trial result of the administrative lawsuit regarding Bonghwasan Park (Mangbuk District) as a reason for requesting a construction suspension order. The court ruled that the same operator’s projects in Samsan Park and Bonghwasan Park (Mangbuk District) were of the same type within the same impact zone and therefore subject to an environmental impact assessment.

However, Suncheon City claims that this ruling is unrelated to Samsan Park. At the time of the Samsan Park assessment (December 2018 to March 2019), the Mangbuk District project was uncertain (proposal accepted in October 2019), so it was natural to proceed with the environmental impact assessment based solely on the scale of Samsan Park.

Suncheon City (the approving authority) stated that although Samsan Park was lawfully coordinated with a small-scale environmental impact assessment (Yeongsangang River Basin Environmental Office), the article’s reporting, which cited biased claims from some landowners suggesting favoritism, mistakes, audits, or disciplinary issues in administrative procedures, appears to be the result of minimal fact-checking and is therefore incomprehensible.

Currently, Samsan Park (Hanyang Sujain) has completed the sale of 1,252 apartment units, and prospective residents are eagerly awaiting the completion of construction with dreams of owning their lifelong homes.

While it is naturally unacceptable for innocent citizens to suffer due to administrative errors, it is even more unacceptable to continue to obstruct a lawfully promoted project with false information.

The city stated that Samsan Park is scheduled to proceed normally without construction suspension, and regarding Bonghwasan Park (Mangbuk District), an appeal was filed on August 24, and the second trial is currently underway. The city plans to actively clarify the disputed issues based on objective evidence.