Mayor Shin Sangjin Urges Ministry of National Defense for
"Fundamental Easing of Height Restrictions"
Focus on Substantially Raising Building Height
Seongnam City in Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Shin Sangjin) announced on the 11th that it will not be satisfied with the partial easing of height restrictions around Seoul Airport, and will actively push for the Ministry of National Defense to accept measures that would substantially increase the allowable height of buildings.
Seongnam Mayor Shin Sangjin is presiding over a meeting to review the achievements of easing height restrictions in his office at the city hall on the 8th. Provided by Seongnam City
On the 8th, during a meeting to review the achievements related to the easing of height restrictions, Mayor Shin Sangjin listened to explanations from the relevant department and the consulting firm, and stated, "There have been some achievements, such as the planned announcement of changes to the flight safety zone following the adjustment of Seoul Airport's runway angle, and the legislative notice of the amendment to the 'Enforcement Decree of the Military Bases and Installations Protection Act,' which improves the ground level standard." However, he added, "We will continue to urge the Ministry of National Defense to accept fundamental measures to ease height restrictions so that building heights can be increased."
The city prepared five proposals to ease height restrictions through a research project and officially submitted them to the Ministry of National Defense on June 26. Among these, two proposals?the announcement of changes to the flight safety zone, and the revision of the ground level standard for calculating building height?are reportedly being positively reviewed by the Ministry of National Defense. However, there has been no official response regarding the remaining three proposals.
The three proposals for which the Ministry of National Defense has not yet stated its position are: changing the aircraft circling approach route at Seoul Airport from the east side of the runway to the west side (toward Cheonggyesan Mountain); establishing a special circling approach procedure; and easing height restrictions to the extent of the buffer zone set by the conservatively determined minimum safe height.
Mayor Shin Sangjin emphasized, "These three proposals are the key alternatives that would truly allow for an increase in building heights," and added, "We will mobilize all administrative resources to ensure that the Ministry of National Defense accepts them as soon as possible."
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