Gwangju Sinchon Neighborhood Park Transformed into a Citizen Rest Area

Gwangju City Completes First Urban Park Subject to Long-Term Unexecuted Sunset Deadline

On the morning of the 23rd, Lee Yong-seop, Mayor of Gwangju Metropolitan City, attended the completion ceremony of the first long-term unexecuted sunset target urban park held at Sinchon Neighborhood Park in Gwangsan-gu, where he participated in a commemorative tree planting with Kim Sam-ho, Mayor of Gwangsan-gu, district council members, and local residents. Photo by Gwangju Metropolitan City

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Sinchon Neighborhood Park, one of the long-term unexecuted urban parks subject to sunset in the Gwangju area, has been developed as the first citizen rest space.

Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 23rd that it has completed the development project for Sinchon Neighborhood Park, one of the 24 long-term unexecuted urban parks subject to sunset, which has been promoted from 2018 to this month, and will provide it as a space for citizens.

Located within the development-restricted zone near the main airport, Sinchon Park was designated as a park in 1975 but remained undeveloped for 41 years as a long-term unexecuted urban park. According to the revised National Land Planning Act, it was a sunset-targeted park as of July 1st.

Gwangju City promoted the park development project to provide the park as a space for rest, exercise, and walking by investing city finances without lifting the park designation, to support nearby residents who have suffered from aircraft noise and property rights restrictions around the park area.

To this end, the park was selected twice in the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s contest for living parks within development-restricted zones, receiving 1.12 billion KRW in national funds in 2018 and 2020, with a total project cost of 1.9 billion KRW invested to develop 23,000㎡.

Until now, Sinchon Neighborhood Park had poor environmental conditions due to illegal farming and garbage dumping by nearby residents, but with the completion of the park development, it now features a forested walking trail, exercise facilities, restrooms, benches, and a community plaza for local residents.

In particular, during the second phase of the development project this year, opinions raised at meetings involving local residents and council members?such as requests to convert irrigation channels, which were hotspots for illegal farming and pests, into park space?were reflected by purchasing additional land and creating forested areas, focusing on resolving citizens’ inconveniences.

Mayor Lee Yong-seop said, “Sinchon Neighborhood Park, the first of the long-term unexecuted parks to be completed, is expected to become a pleasant green resting place for citizens going through difficult times due to COVID-19,” and added, “We will also proceed without delay to complete the development projects for the remaining long-term unexecuted parks by 2023.”

Meanwhile, following the Constitutional Court’s 1999 ruling of unconstitutionality regarding long-term unexecuted urban parks, 25 major parks in Gwangju faced the risk of losing their status.

As a countermeasure, Gwangju City decided to lift the designation of one park (Gwangmok), directly invest city budget in 15 parks as financial parks, and promote nine parks as special projects led by the private sector. By June, the city completed all the minimum administrative procedures, including implementation plan approvals, to avoid the risk of park status loss and is steadily progressing with the projects.

Currently, compensation for private land in financial parks is 27% complete, and negotiations and compensation will continue within the budget next year.

For the nine private parks (10 project districts), appraisals have been completed for five parks, with some land compensation underway, and appraisals and land compensation for the remaining parks are planned to be completed by the first half of next year.

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