Gwangjin-gu Children's Grand Park Maximum Altitude Zone Abolished After 26 Years

[Seoul Autonomous District News] Gwangjin-gu Children's Grand Park Area 219,000㎡ Highest Altitude Zone Abolished, Passed Seoul Urban Planning Committee Review, 26-Year Resident Long-Awaited Project Finally Resolved, Regulation Relief Around Children's Grand Park Expected to Boost Local Development... Dongdaemun-gu Public Hazardous Tree Maintenance... Korea Senior Research Institute Donates 630 Dementia Prevention Puzzles for Gwanak-gu Elderly Living Alone... Dongjak-gu Enforces Parking Ban on Non-Electric Vehicles in EV Charging Zones... Gangdong-gu Joins Efforts to Revitalize Local Markets through Partnerships with Traditional Markets

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] The abolition of the maximum height district around Children’s Grand Park, a long-standing wish of residents in Gwangjin-gu (Mayor Kim Seon-gap), has finally borne fruit after 26 years.

Gwangjin-gu began the official procedures last April by announcing the ‘Abolition Plan of the Maximum Height District around Children’s Grand Park,’ followed by public viewing and opinion collection, and officially requested the abolition plan to Seoul City in July.

After persistent negotiations, on the 16th, the 3rd Seoul City Urban Planning Committee passed the ‘Urban Management Plan (Use District: Height District) Amendment Plan’ containing the abolition of the height district around Children’s Grand Park.

The target area for the abolition of the maximum height district is 219,000㎡ around Neung-dong and Guui-dong near Children’s Grand Park. Despite being located near key transportation hubs in Gwangjin-gu such as Children’s Grand Park Station, Gunja Station, Achasan Station, and along Cheonho-daero, this area has been designated and managed as a maximum height district since 1996 to protect the landscape around Children’s Grand Park.

Accordingly, the surrounding building height was restricted to 16m or less, and within 30m of the Children’s Grand Park station area, it was limited to 13m or less, which infringed on residents’ property rights and hindered regional development. In particular, the area around Neung-dong Children’s Grand Park was the only one among ten major flatland parks in Seoul, including Seoul Forest, Boramae Park, and World Cup Park, to be managed as a maximum height district, revealing many unreasonable aspects.

Since the 7th local government administration, Gwangjin-gu has continuously negotiated with Seoul City, the decision-maker of the urban management plan, to abolish the maximum height district and has worked to resolve dual regulations through understanding and persuasion.

The passage of the urban planning committee review is the result of bold initiative by Gwangjin-gu, the urban management plan proposer, and active expression of abolition intentions by local residents, demonstrating public-private cooperation. This achievement was also made possible by Seoul City’s policy shift to relax rigid regulatory elements of urban planning.

Kim Seon-gap, Mayor of Gwangjin-gu, said, “The abolition of the maximum height district around Children’s Grand Park, which was a long-standing wish of residents due to unreasonable regulations, has finally been realized, and I am pleased. We promise to continue efforts to eliminate unreasonable elements such as bold deregulation for the future development and enhancement of regional value of Gwangjin-gu, and thank the residents for their support.”

Dongdaemun-gu (Mayor Yoo Deok-yeol) will carry out a hazardous tree maintenance project targeting public spaces such as parks.

By the end of March this year, 180 hazardous trees (100 to be removed, 80 to be pruned), including locust trees and elm trees identified through complaints and on-site investigations, will be maintained at 20 locations including Baebongsan Neighborhood Park. Maintenance will be conducted again in July during the rainy season and typhoon approach period, with completion planned for November.

The district removes hazardous trees and prunes them annually in forests, parks, street trees, and green areas to protect residents’ precious lives and property, eliminate accident risk factors, and improve tree growth conditions.

Priority is given to removing tilted trees in forests and parks adjacent to residential areas, hazardous trees that have fallen or may fall on park walking paths, and dead trees, as well as pruning overgrown trees that obstruct views and landscapes. These tasks are carried out twice a year in the first and second halves.

Yoo Deok-yeol, Mayor of Dongdaemun-gu, stated, “By preemptively maintaining hazardous trees, we will prevent safety accidents, protect residents’ lives and property, resolve complaints and inconveniences, and contribute to building a safe city.”

Korea Senior Research Institute (CEO Lee Jin-yeol), a tenant company of Seoul National University (SNU) Campus Town, has attracted attention by donating 630 dementia prevention puzzles for elderly living alone in Gwanak-gu.

Korea Senior Research Institute is a tenant company jointly operated by Gwanak-gu and SNU in the SNU Campus Town. Since its startup, it has received various supports including office space and business growth assistance, and decided to give back to the local community by donating through the Community Chest of Korea to Gwanak-gu.

The donated dementia prevention puzzles are products independently developed by Korea Senior Research Institute based on its experience caring for the elderly. They help improve brain activity and cognitive abilities of elderly living alone who are at high risk of dementia due to social isolation.

Lee Jin-yeol, CEO of Korea Senior Research Institute, said, “As a company for seniors, we are pleased to carry out this meaningful donation to help the socially marginalized elderly living alone. We will continue to look after the local community and provide support to neighbors in need.”

Last year, Korea Senior Research Institute was selected in the Gwanak-gu-SNU Campus Town tenant company competition and received benefits such as free startup space in Gwanak-gu, support for investor relations and demo day participation, and technical linkage with SNU faculty.

Since attracting Series A investment worth 11 billion KRW last year, the company has been expanding a nationwide elderly care network and actively developing competitive services and products in the silver care market.

Gwanak-gu is promoting the ‘Gwanak S Valley’ project to create a startup hub where universities, companies, and the community coexist, generating quality jobs and revitalizing the local economy. On January 10, the Nakseongdae-dong and Daehak-dong areas were designated as the ‘Gwanak S Valley Venture Business Promotion District’ by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.

An official from the district said, “We appreciate the tenant company of Campus Town growing and giving back to the community through donations. We will continue to support the activation of the Campus Town project and the growth of Gwanak S Valley companies so that venture and startup companies can operate safely in Gwanak-gu.”

Dongjak-gu (Mayor Lee Chang-woo) is actively cracking down on charging obstruction acts in all electric vehicle charging zones.

The district announced on the 17th that it will enforce crackdowns according to the amended ‘Act on the Development and Promotion of Environmentally Friendly Automobiles,’ which came into full effect on January 28, imposing fines ranging from 100,000 KRW to a maximum of 200,000 KRW for obstruction acts in electric vehicle charging zones.

The crackdown target has been expanded to all charging zones marked as electric vehicle charging zones (including apartments), covering acts such as parking general vehicles in charging zones, placing or parking objects in charging zones, surrounding areas, or access roads to obstruct charging, continuing to park after charging is complete, and intentionally damaging charging facilities or charging zone markings and letters.

The district will operate an advisory period until July 31 to inform about charging facility crackdowns and promote awareness of obstruction acts. Simultaneously, a crackdown team composed of two administrative personnel and two citizen monitoring members will conduct on-site enforcement.

According to the legal amendment, installation of dedicated parking spaces and charging facilities is mandatory in public buildings and public-use facilities with 50 or more parking spaces, and apartments (multi-family housing) with 100 or more households.

Furthermore, the number of electric vehicle charging facilities to be installed has been increased to at least 5% of parking spaces for new buildings, and existing buildings with permits before the enforcement date of the Act must newly install 2%.

The district plans to publicize that failure to comply within the grace period (1 year for public facilities, 2 years for public-use facilities, 3 years for multi-family housing) will result in correction orders and fines to avoid disadvantages.

Park Yeon-su, Director of the Clean Environment Division, said, “We will actively inform residents about the amended environmentally friendly automobile law and enforcement to minimize confusion. We will strive to create an environment where electric vehicle users can use facilities conveniently and without inconvenience.”

Last October, the district held an environmental policy forum to practice carbon neutrality and established a long-term future vision, aiming to supply 10,000 eco-friendly vehicles by 2025. Accordingly, it plans to expand public rapid chargers to 27 units by 2025.

Gangdong-gu (Mayor Lee Jung-hoon) will continue the ‘Gangdong-gu-Traditional Market Partnership Project’ this year to revitalize traditional markets struggling due to prolonged economic recession and the impact of COVID-19 and to support stable commercial activities of merchants.

The ‘Gangdong-gu and Traditional Market Partnership Project’ was launched amid consensus that public institutions should take the lead in recovering local commercial districts as visitors to traditional markets decreased due to avoidance of multi-use facilities caused by COVID-19.

Previously, the district had established one-to-one sisterhood partnerships with six traditional markets in the area to encourage their use. Starting this year, the project has been expanded to include all traditional markets and three alley-type shopping districts in the district without one-to-one matching, joining efforts to revive the local economy. Additionally, the district encourages traditional market use through online purchases using free delivery platforms such as ‘Empty-Hand Shopping’ and ‘Come to the Market.’

At the beginning of this year, the district set a concentrated usage period around the Lunar New Year holiday and encouraged employees to actively use traditional markets. As a result, during about half a month before and after the Lunar New Year, the number of visits to traditional markets and alley-type shopping districts in the area reached 119 times, with a usage amount of about 24 million KRW. The traditional market merchants’ association evaluated that this project greatly helped market sales.

Lee Jung-hoon, Mayor of Gangdong-gu, said, “The partnership project between the district office and traditional markets signifies public institutions joining to alleviate difficulties of small business owners and promote local consumption. We will continue to review various support measures and do our best to revitalize traditional markets.”

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