Jinju-si, Revitalizing Old Downtown and Local Economy ... Easing Regulations on Existing Buildings

Relaxation of 'Open Space Within Site' Regulations for Aging Urban Buildings, Inclusion of Forest Management Specialists in Temporary Structures

Jinju City Hall Exterior View

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Soon-kyung] Jinju City, Gyeongnam Province, announced on the 30th that it has given legislative notice of a partial amendment to the building ordinance, focusing on the relaxation of regulations on buildings in the old downtown area.

This amendment is a follow-up measure to the 5th emergency regional economic support plan announced on the 12th to overcome the COVID-19 crisis, aiming to inject new vitality into the ongoing urban regeneration project and central commercial district revitalization project through smooth change of use of aging buildings in the old downtown area.

According to the Building Act, open space within a site refers to the distance that must be maintained from the building line or adjacent site boundary line to the building for buildings above a certain scale, and most buildings are subject to this regulation.

In particular, since this regulation applies not only to new construction but also to extensions and changes of use, there have been many restrictions on the utilization of existing buildings, but these restrictions are expected to be lifted with this ordinance amendment.

A special clause for existing buildings was newly established to relax the application for existing buildings constructed before the enforcement date of the open space regulation within the site, and to minimize inconvenience and damage to surrounding life due to deregulation, medical facilities such as psychiatric hospitals, nursing hospitals, isolation hospitals, and funeral halls are excluded from existing buildings.

Other major contents of this ordinance amendment include designating buildings subject to review by the Jinju City Building Committee, types of temporary buildings, newly adding forest management managers under the ‘Mountainous Area Management Act,’ public recruitment and improvement of the selection process for building site survey agents, and more.

Since the content related to building maintenance was separated from the ‘Building Act’ and newly enacted as the ‘Building Management Act’ in May last year, the city is promoting the establishment of a new ‘Building Management Ordinance’ separated from the ‘Building Ordinance’ in accordance with the higher law, and this is being promoted simultaneously with the amendment of the building ordinance.

Mayor Jo Gyu-il said, “We have relaxed regulations on existing buildings in the downtown area to revitalize the local economy and proactively respond to the post-COVID-19 era,” and added, “I hope this follow-up measure to the emergency regional economic support plan will be an opportunity for the stagnant old downtown area to regain vitality.”

Meanwhile, the city aims to promulgate the ordinance in July this year after going through administrative procedures such as legislative notice of the ordinance draft, holding the ordinance and regulation review committee, and approval by the council.

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