Seoul City Pushes Public Sale and Other Plans for Former Seongdong Prison Site Contrary to Residents' Wishes... No Cultural or Sports Facilities... Conflicts with Resident Briefings and Urban Joint Architecture Committee Reviews
Park Seong-su, Mayor of Songpa District, proposed reflecting residents' demands regarding facilities introduced on public contribution sites during a meeting with Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon in May.
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Park Seong-su, Mayor of Songpa-gu, urged on the 29th regarding the development of the former Seongdong Detention Center site promoted by Seoul City, saying, "Promises made to residents must be kept," and called for "responsible policies to be implemented."
After presiding over an emergency meeting with related departments on the 27th concerning the development of the former Seongdong Detention Center site, Mayor Park stated, "Seoul City must carry out the site development according to the original plan that reflects the opinions of Songpa residents."
According to Songpa-gu, the development project of the former Seongdong Detention Center site (around 162 Garak-dong) focuses on housing supply and the creation of complex public facilities utilizing public contribution land.
Specifically, it has been promoted as a public development plan to build newlywed hope towns, apartment complexes, and community communication facilities and cultural and sports complex facilities using the public contribution land.
Residents nearby, who have experienced inconvenience due to the detention center, a disliked facility for the past 40 years, have been expecting not only improvements to the surrounding environment but also the expansion of convenience and cultural facilities desired by residents since the development project passed the Seoul City Urban and Architectural Joint Committee review in March this year, enabling full-scale development.
Accordingly, Mayor Park Seong-su also proposed reflecting residents' demands for facilities on the public contribution land during a meeting with Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon in May.
However, contrary to the original plan to promote private sales on the apartment land, Seoul City is reportedly converting it to public sales and rental housing such as land lease housing and long-term rental housing, and although the public contribution land is designated for cultural and sports complex use, there are no plans to build related facilities.
This contradicts the contents of previous residents' briefings and the Urban Joint Architectural Committee reviews.
It also conflicts with the "Seongdong Detention Center site cultural complex facility," one of the Songpa-gu pledges made by candidate Oh Se-hoon during the Seoul mayoral by-election in April.
In response, local residents are strongly voicing their opposition. Songpa-gu council members also passed a resolution titled "Opposition to the Promotion of Public Sale and Rental Conversion of the Seongdong Detention Center Site and Proposal for the Construction of Cultural and Sports Facilities" at the plenary session on the 16th and sent a petition to Seoul City.
Mayor Park Seong-su of Songpa-gu stated, "Residents' trust in administration comes from consistency," and added, "Seoul City must review what Songpa residents need and want and keep the original promises made."
Going forward, Songpa-gu plans to continue strongly urging Seoul City in cooperation with Songpa residents and the Songpa-gu council to implement the original plan for the development of the former Seongdong Detention Center site.
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