Development Proposal Company Judged Ineligible as Private Sector Operator
The development project of Cheonan Citizen Sports Park, which had been controversial for the past six months, has been effectively canceled.
On the 9th, Kim Seok-pil, Deputy Mayor of Cheonan City, held a press conference and announced that the city would purchase the remaining land of the Citizen Sports Park and proceed with the park completion process.
The controversy over the Citizen Sports Park arose last October when Mayor Park Sang-don revealed in his policy speech at the Cheonan City Council that a development project to build apartments and other facilities in the Cheonan Citizen Sports Park was under consideration. The development project was reportedly proposed by a developer who owned 0.27㎡ of the park's area.
Above all, since the proposing company owned only 0.27㎡ out of the total park area of 130,356㎡, questions arose regarding the eligibility of the project proposer. It was also revealed that the city had not purchased the 0.27㎡ for three years, which delayed the park construction project from being completed.
Following the policy speech, when strong opposition arose from Cheonan City Council members, mainly from the Democratic Party, Mayor Park stated, "We intend to find an efficient use of the park land through a public discussion process," adding, "If the proposing company cannot fully resolve the repurchase rights issue or if the public opinion during the discussion process is overwhelmingly negative, the project will be halted."
Eventually, the city requested interpretations from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Ministry of Government Legislation regarding the private developer status of the company.
As a result, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport responded that "when a landowner proposes the designation of an urban development zone, they must own more than half of the land area excluding national and public land within the urban development zone," and the Ministry of Government Legislation also rejected the request, stating that "this is not an appropriate subject for legal interpretation by the Ministry."
Consequently, the city judged that the private developer status of the proposing company was inappropriate and scrapped the development project.
It then announced its intention to purchase the 0.27㎡ of land owned by the private developer and proceed with the park completion process.
Deputy Mayor Kim Seok-pil said, "The city will purchase the remaining private land included in the Citizen Sports Park site and proceed with the park completion process by changing some urban management plans and implementation plans according to the current situation."
He added, "Regarding the development issue of the Citizen Sports Park site, if there is a need to expand parks, cultural and artistic infrastructure necessary for citizens' lives, we plan to consider promoting the project through public development methods after public hearings and surveys."
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