"Farmland Included in Site... Subject to Development Activity Permit Beyond Construction Approval"
Lee Sangil: "We Will Continue Efforts to Protect the Residential Environment for Citizens"
The court has ruled that the city of Yongin in Gyeonggi Province acted lawfully in rejecting a private company's application for a construction permit for a data center in the residential area of Eonnam-dong.
According to Yongin City on November 1, the Suwon District Court recently dismissed an administrative lawsuit filed by Giheung PFV Co., Ltd., which sought to overturn the city's decision to deny a construction permit for a data center at 155-7 Eonnam-dong, Giheung-gu, Yongin.
The court stated that because the construction permit for the data center involved land that included farmland, it constituted a development activity permit. Therefore, the city's refusal to grant the construction permit could not be considered an abuse or overreach of its discretionary power, and ruled accordingly.
Previously, in April 2024, Giheung PFV applied for a construction permit for a data center-including a development activity permit and farmland conversion permit-on a 1,573-square-meter site at 155-7 Eonnam-dong. The company planned to build a structure with four underground and four above-ground floors, a height of 23.1 meters, and a total floor area of 6,512 square meters.
However, the city notified the company in August of the same year that the construction permit could not be granted. The reason was that the site included two parcels of land, covering 178 square meters of farmland, and thus required prior approval for both development activities and farmland conversion before a construction permit could be issued.
The city also determined that the site was located in a Type 1 General Residential Zone, which is designated to create a convenient residential environment centered on low-rise housing. As such, a data center was not deemed suitable for this zoning. The planned building's height also significantly exceeded the height of nearby buildings (12 to 16 meters), violating the floor limit for the area and creating a potential for visual disharmony.
Additionally, the city pointed out that the old police university main gate intersection adjacent to the site has an irregular road layout and traffic lanes, which does not align with the traffic impact assessment for the Yongin Eonnam Public Support Private Rental Housing Supply Promotion District. The city also raised concerns that noise from the data center's cooling system would negatively affect the surrounding residential and educational environments.
In contrast, Giheung PFV argued that issuing a construction or development activity permit for a fully prepared site is a mandatory administrative action if legal requirements are met, and that it was inappropriate to deny the permit for reasons unrelated to building regulations. The company claimed that rejecting the permit due to concerns over electromagnetic waves, noise, fire hazards, traffic, or public complaints constituted an abuse or overreach of the city's discretionary power, and thus filed the administrative lawsuit.
Lee Sangil, Mayor of Yongin, stated, "I am relieved that the court has confirmed the validity of the city's refusal to permit the data center construction," adding, "We will continue to make efforts to maintain and protect the residential environment for our citizens."
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