Banjaesin Gwangju City Council Member: "Urban Planning Committee Reform Proposal, Nothing New"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Ban Jae-shin, a member of the Gwangju Metropolitan Council (Democratic Party, Buk-gu 1), criticized the urban planning committee innovation plan announced by Gwangju Metropolitan City on the 15th for lacking concrete and effective implementation measures.

On the 16th, Councilor Ban stated in a press release, “The urban planning committee innovation plan of Gwangju City acknowledges, as Mayor Lee Yong-seop pointed out, that ‘the urban planning committee has so far been nothing more than a rubber-stamp and a ceremonial committee.’ Moreover, the implementation measures merely reaffirm what is already specified in the existing Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport guidelines, the National Land Planning Act, and ordinances, without containing any concrete content that could bring about substantial innovation.”

Councilor Ban pointed out, “The number of appointments and possible reappointments of urban planning committee members were already specified in the ‘Local Urban Planning Committee Operation Guidelines’ issued by the Ministry of Land in January 2014. However, it was only in January 2018, four years later, that Gwangju City amended the urban planning ordinance to include reappointment restrictions. Despite the Ministry of Land guidelines and the ordinance amendment, Gwangju City continued to reappoint certain individuals as urban planning committee members. Furthermore, the same individual was also appointed as a member of the Urban Park Committee, which led the private park special project, showing a contradiction by participating in proposal, review, and urban planning from the project’s inception,” he criticized.

He added, “Although the ordinance is a local autonomous regulation with legal effect, Gwangju City has shown a complacent attitude by treating violations of the ordinance as if they were not significant issues.”

He also said, “The Urban Planning Standing Planning Group has been mandated by the National Land Planning Act since 2009, but Gwangju City has only recently begun the recruitment process for the head. This shows that the urban planning committee has merely played a formal and ceremonial rubber-stamp role, and the innovation plan is nothing more than a promise to comply with existing laws and ordinances that have been mandatory for some time.”

He continued, “Gwangju City has long received numerous criticisms from the city council, citizens, and social organizations regarding piecemeal high-rise apartment construction, urban sprawl, and urban hollowing. This is no coincidence. The urban planning committee, which legally holds strong review and resolution authority, has been unable to properly perform its functions and roles due to its operation as a formal rubber-stamp, the composition ratio of members with over 50% from specific fields and academia, and overlapping appointments with other committees,” he elaborated.

Councilor Ban demanded effective innovation measures for Gwangju City’s urban planning committee, including securing an appropriate ratio of committee members by sector (media, private experts, civic groups, etc.), compliance with gender ratio requirements for appointed members according to various laws and ordinances, ensuring procedural legitimacy and clear division of duties in the composition and operation of the Urban Planning Standing Planning Group, enacting ordinances to restrict overlapping appointments to multiple committees, establishing regulations prohibiting reappointment of dismissed members, expanding the disclosure rate of committee meeting minutes, and preparing plans to expand citizen participation in planning, emphasizing that this is not merely about finally complying with existing regulations but about creating effective innovation measures.

He concluded, “Rather than defending that there have been no legal violations in appointing urban planning committee members, Mayor Lee Yong-seop and Gwangju City should humbly apologize to the citizens for failing to properly comply with regulations in operating the urban planning committee and sincerely prepare genuine improvement measures. This is the right course of action,” he advised.

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