Suncheon City, Urban (Residential) Development and Apartment Supply... Which Mayor Issued the Most Permits?

Mayor Heo Seok, Allegedly Issued Many Apartment Permits... The Truth Behind the Controversy

Recent aerial view of Pungdeok District, which has received official approval for the urban development project implementation plan.

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] “They are developing residential sites here and there. They say they are building apartments, but aren’t there too many apartments?” said citizen A, expressing concern, “There are many rumors that Mayor Heo Seok approved a lot of apartment permits. Is that true?”

At the 3rd anniversary press conference of the 7th local government held on the 29th of last month, a reporter also asked whether too many apartments were being built.

A social organization official who appeared as a panel on a public TV broadcast also asked a similar question during a dialogue with Mayor Heo Seok.

In response, Mayor Heo said, “Most of it was done during the previous mayor’s term,” and “In fact, the only apartment permit I approved was for Jogok-dong,” adding, “The Jogok-dong apartment was promoted as part of an SOC project to expand the riverside road.”

This statement by Mayor Heo can be interpreted as meaning that when urban development, i.e., residential site development permits are granted, apartment permits related to them must naturally be approved unless there are special circumstances.

Concerned citizens worried about changes in the apartment sales market and price drops due to oversupply of apartments being built here and there, has undertaken a planned report to look back on the history of real estate in Suncheon and predict the future based on the present.

First, a time was set to look back on the past history of urban (residential site) development in Suncheon City.

The modern history of real estate development in Suncheon City began 31 years ago in 1990, and to date, project approvals have been granted for 22 urban (residential site) development districts, with 19 projects completed except for Wangjo 2 District, Pungdeok District, and Yongdang 2 District.

The fact that 19 urban development projects were completed over 31 years means that on average, one urban development project was carried out every 19 months, showing a snapshot of how rapidly Suncheon’s real estate market has grown.

In 1990, Suncheon City, Jeonnam Province, and LH Corporation all jumped into residential site development, marking the first heyday lasting 10 years.

The Jeonnam Provincial Public Development Office constructed the Geumdang District covering an area of 749,037㎡ in Yeonhyang, Jorye-dong, and Sangsam-ri, Haeryong-myeon in 1990.

The Suncheon City Public Development Office directly engaged in the development of seven districts including Yeonhyang District started in 1990 (Jorye 1 District, Geumdang 2 District, Wangji District, Yeonhyang 3 District, Wangjo Ungok District, Ocheon District), supplying a large-scale residential site totaling 3,091,808㎡.

LH Corporation also started in 1990 and developed residential sites of 537,063㎡ in Jorye 2 District and Yeonhyang 2 District.

By 2014, the total area of cities developed by Jeonnam Province, Suncheon City, and LH was 4,377,908㎡ (1,324,317 pyeong), equivalent to 1.5 times the size of Yeouido and large enough to accommodate 600 soccer fields.

Meanwhile, private urban development projects were also actively carried out.

Among 12 private urban development projects, nine districts including Shindae District (Deokwol, Seokhyeon, Bibong, Yeonhyang, Yeonhyang-Sangsam, Gagok, Yongdang 1, Boksung) were developed on a scale of 3,469,309㎡ (1,049,465 pyeong).

Three districts currently approved and under development (Pungdeok District, Wangji 2 District, Yongdang 2 District) cover a total area of 1,031,019㎡ (311,883 pyeong), planned to accommodate 6,440 households and a population of 15,477.

The total area of private development projects is 4,500,328㎡ (1,361,349 pyeong), which is 1.52 times the size of Yeouido and enough to build 618 soccer fields, exceeding the total area of public developments by Jeonnam Province, Suncheon City, and LH.

A comparison was made between urban (residential site) development permits in Suncheon City and the successive mayors of Suncheon.

During the 1st local government term (Mayor Bang Seong-ryong, 1995.7~1998.6), in December 1996, project approvals were granted for Geumdang 2 District and Wangji District, but these were developed directly by Suncheon City through the Public Development Office, not private projects.

In the 2nd local government term (Mayor Shin Joon-sik, 1998.7~2001.2), approval was given for the private urban development project of Gagok District (February 2000).

During the 3rd local government term (Mayor Jo Chung-hoon, 2002.7.1~2005.12), private development projects Shindae District (October 2003) and Wangjo Ungok District (May 2005) were approved, developing a total of 3,314,757㎡ (1,000,000 pyeong).

During the 4th and 5th local government terms (Mayor Noh Gwan-gyu, 2006.7~2011.12), no residential site development project approvals were granted.

In the 6th local government term (Mayor Jo Chung-hoon, 2012.4~2018.6), large-scale urban developments such as Ocheon District (April 2012), Yeonhyang-Sangsam District (July 2012), Yongdang 1 District (September 2013), Wangji 2 District (April 2016), Yongdang 2 District (April 2017), Boksung District (September 2017), and Pungdeok District (March 2018) received project approvals.

The total area of completed or approved residential site developments was 1,771,965㎡ (536,019 pyeong), marking the second heyday of urban development.

Meanwhile, considering the very complex process and time required for urban planning changes and notifications before project approvals, there is a view that the Ocheon District and Yeonhyang-Sangsam District approved during the 6th local government term under Mayor Jo Chung-hoon were actually urban development projects finalized during the 5th local government term under Mayor Noh Gwan-gyu.

During the 7th local government term (Mayor Heo Seok, 2018.6~present), no urban development projects have been approved so far.

A city official said, “Since the urban development plan including multi-family housing was approved at the time of residential site development permits, if it proceeds as planned, there is no way to stop it.”

In other words, Mayor Heo’s claim aligns with the meaning that it would be unreasonable to refuse building permits when someone wants to build houses after granting land development permits for housing construction.

plans to follow up with investigative reports on apartment permits by successive local government mayors.

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