Hanam-si Citizen Participation Innovation Committee Discusses Greenbelt Release and Management Plans

Hanam City is holding a regular meeting of the Citizen Participation Innovation Committee to discuss the release and management plan of the Greenbelt (GB), one of Hanam City's biggest pending issues.

Hanam City, Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Lee Hyun-jae) held a regular meeting of the Citizen Participation Innovation Committee to discuss the lifting and management measures of the Greenbelt (GB), one of Hanam City's biggest pending issues.

According to Hanam City on the 18th, the Citizen Participation Innovation Committee exchanged various opinions on the lifting and management measures of the GB at the 4th regular meeting held on the 17th in the main conference room of the city hall.

The GB is a system introduced in 1971 to prevent the disorderly expansion of cities, preserve the natural environment around urban areas, and protect a healthy living environment for city residents.

Since the GB area accounts for 71.3% of the total area in Hanam City, the city is carefully considering the lifting and management measures of the GB to solve urgent issues such as attracting businesses, which is a core part of Hanam City's future development strategy, while maintaining a balance between urban and natural environments.

Experts and citizens from various fields who attended the meeting highly praised Hanam City for successfully prompting the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to revise guidelines last July, allowing GB lifting if the city establishes measures for managing water pollution sources based on environmental evaluation grades 1 to 2 water quality maps. They also reached a consensus that lifting the GB is necessary to successfully promote the K-Star World construction project and the Camp Colbern urban development project, which are being pursued with the goal of building a self-sufficient city.

Additionally, Hanam City held a mid-term report on how the planning and proposal tasks suggested by the Citizen Participation Innovation Committee in the first and second halves of this year in five areas?‘Jobs,’ ‘Urban Development,’ ‘Transportation,’ ‘Welfare and Culture,’ and ‘Education’?have been reflected in city administration, allowing time for policy maturation.

Regarding the ‘Demand-tailored Corporate Policy Promotion’ proposed by the Jobs division, Hanam City announced that it held two joint briefing sessions with related organizations for business groups in June and September this year. For the proposal to expand citizen and corporate recruitment in preparation for the large-scale job fair in 2025, the city explained that it has expanded job seeker competency enhancement programs and employment education.

For the ‘Creating a Completed New Town Hanam’ suggested by the Urban Development division, the city reported that it requested the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to present standards for public contributions and incentives within the district unit plan of the Gyosan District. Regarding ‘Creating a Differentiated Gyosan New Town with Planting Roads,’ the city requested LH to specialize in parks, green spaces, and street tree planting in the Gyosan District.

Regarding the ‘Hanam City Transportation Park Creation’ agenda proposed by the Transportation division, the city stated that it started the detailed design of the Hanam City Transportation Park in July and held related briefing sessions, aiming to complete the park in the first half of 2025.

The ‘Support Policy for Single-Person Households’ from the Welfare and Culture division is currently underway with the establishment of a basic plan for single-person households, and the city plans to discover various policy projects through interdepartmental collaboration.

Lastly, regarding the ‘Activation of the Online Integrated Education Platform’ proposed by the Education division, the city introduced plans to solidify the second phase platform that supports mentoring and learning management using big data, following the first phase platform that provides career and college admission information.

Oh Jang-seop, chairman of the Citizen Participation Innovation Committee, said, “I believe Hanam City’s potential is very excellent in South Korea,” and added, “The Citizen Participation Innovation Committee will share and cooperate with Hanam City and its administration to ensure that citizens feel the development of city administration.”

Mayor Lee Hyun-jae of Hanam City stated, “Thanks to the active activities of the Citizen Participation Innovation Committee for nearly two years, we have achieved various results in many areas of city administration, including ranking 4th among metropolitan cities as a good place to live,” and added, “I hope the Citizen Participation Innovation Committee will propose various development strategies so that Hanam City can grow more rapidly.”

Meanwhile, the Citizen Participation Innovation Committee was launched in December 2022 to propose policy development strategies linked to major city projects and to discover new policies. Hanam City plans to newly organize the 2nd term Citizen Participation Innovation Committee in December and hold an inauguration ceremony and workshop.