Seoul Redevelopment Association Leaders Oppose Transfer of Authority: "Will Cause Delays and Haphazard Development"

Seoul Urban Renewal Project Association Issues Statement Outside City Hall
"Government, National Assembly Must Immediately Halt Transfer of Authority to Autonomous Districts"

The Seoul Metropolitan City Redevelopment Project Association (Seojeongyeon), an incorporated association, held a press conference in front of Seoul City Hall on the morning of the 13th and issued a statement opposing the transfer of authority to designate redevelopment zones to autonomous districts. (Photo by Moon Jewon)

Chairpersons of housing redevelopment associations and heads of promotion committees in Seoul have come out against the government and ruling party's plan to transfer to autonomous districts the authority to designate redevelopment zones with fewer than 500 households, saying it would "cause confusion and delays and lead to haphazard development."

The Seoul Urban Renewal Project Association (Seojeongyeon) held a press conference in front of Seoul City Hall on the morning of Oct. 13 and issued a statement opposing the transfer of authority to designate redevelopment zones to autonomous districts. Seojeongyeon is an organization of association chairpersons and promotion committee heads from 65 redevelopment zones in Seoul.

In its statement, Seojeongyeon said, "If authority is divided among 25 districts, plans for neighboring zones will become disconnected. The 500-household threshold could also create an incentive to artificially split larger zones, whether in response to opposition from residents or for the convenience of permitting authorities." It added, "The resulting harm from reduced project feasibility will ultimately fall on association members and residents."

The association stressed that transferring Seoul City's authority to autonomous districts would not necessarily speed up projects. "Actual delays occur during the autonomous districts' approval and permitting processes after a zone has been designated, including approval of promotion committees, establishment of associations, project implementation, and approval of management and disposition plans," Seojeongyeon said. "The problem cannot be solved with a remedy that misidentifies the bottleneck."

It added, "If authority is decentralized, unfairness will arise, with standards and processing times differing depending on which district an area belongs to, even within Seoul. This unfairness will fuel conflict and become another cause of project delays."

Seojeongyeon also voiced concern about transferring Seoul City's authority to conduct integrated reviews to autonomous districts. Seoul City's integrated reviews, which assess multiple areas such as architecture, landscape, transportation, and the environment at once, involve about 30 expert committee members, while autonomous districts have almost no personnel with comparable expertise.

"While (autonomous districts) put together their committees, project sites will be brought to a halt, and reviews that currently take just over a month to complete could instead become unpredictable," Seojeongyeon stressed. "Association members, who bear financing costs every day, will have to shoulder the expense."

Seojeongyeon called on the government and National Assembly to immediately halt efforts to transfer authority and clearly set processing deadlines for each stage, from approval of promotion committees to approval of management and disposition plans. It also urged Seoul City to strengthen expedited procedures, including its Rapid Integrated Planning program, and formally gather the views of the associations and promotion committees directly involved.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.