Seoul City Announces District Unit Plan for Former Seongdong Prison Site... Includes Upgrading Land Use to Type 3 General Residential and Semi-Residential Areas... Park Seong-su, Songpa District Mayor, Urges "Housing Supply Volume Must Be Implemented as Originally Agreed with Residents"
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Songpa-gu announced that Seoul City has decided and officially notified the district unit planning area and plan (draft) for the former Seongdong Detention Center site as of November 25, and published it in the Seoul City Gazette.
This district unit plan was approved by the Seoul City Urban and Architectural Joint Committee on March 24 of this year and finalized after a re-notification in October.
The two main decisions are ▲ upgrading the zoning from Type 2 General Residential Area to Type 3 General Residential Area and Semi-Residential Area ▲ providing a total land area of 18,827.7㎡ for public contribution to create complex public facilities such as cultural and sports complexes due to the zoning upgrade.
Songpa-gu is currently actively consulting with Seoul City on specific utilization plans to ensure that facilities desired by residents, such as Garak 2-dong Community Center, 50+ Center, and cultural and sports facilities, can be established on the public contribution facility site. However, the plan to supply public housing such as land lease housing instead of private sale housing on the apartment site planned for 600 households by Seoul City was not included in this district unit plan decision.
Regarding this, Songpa-gu has requested Seoul City to develop the site according to the original plan reflecting the opinions of Songpa residents.
Park Seong-su, Mayor of Songpa-gu, regarding the housing part of the ‘Former Seongdong Detention Center Site Development Project,’ stated, “According to the related plan of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in 2018, more than half of the total supply of 1,300 households, that is 700 households, were already planned as public housing, and at that time, the 700 public housing units were accepted by local residents as a concession for the public interest.” He added, “Seoul City and SH completed a residents’ briefing session on this matter in May 2019, and in March of this year, the Seoul City Urban and Architectural Joint Committee also approved it.”
He continued, “However, recently, when it became known that Seoul City is considering converting the entire supply volume into public housing, local residents are greatly concerned,” and added, “As the mayor, I worry that this series of processes might be misunderstood as mere local selfishness because it has not been well communicated.”
Mayor Park Seong-su also said, “For the past 40 years, residents near the Seongdong Detention Center have endured many damages due to this undesirable facility,” and “Now that the situation has changed, it is unacceptable for Seoul City to suddenly change its position as it violates trust in administration.”
He emphasized, “Seoul City must proceed with the project according to the original plan reflecting the opinions of residents near the Seongdong Detention Center.”
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