Request for Further Relaxation of Height Restrictions in Yongsan-gu Haebangchon and Other Areas

Yongsan-gu Requests Supplementation of Namsan Surrounding Height District Reorganization Plan

Submitted Opinion Letter on Namsan Surrounding Height District Reorganization Plan on the 24th

Requests Additional Relaxation of Height Restrictions in Huam-dong, Yongsan 2-ga-dong, Itaewon-dong, Hannam-dong

Issues of Fairness in Height Restriction Relaxation... Difficult to Achieve Substantial Residential Environment Improvement

Yongsan-gu Namsan High-altitude District Panorama

Yongsan-gu (Mayor Park Hee-young) submitted an opinion letter reflecting residents' opinions comprehensively along with a petition signed by residents regarding the Namsan surrounding height district reorganization plan announced by Seoul City to the city on the 24th.

During the public inspection period for the reorganization plan from the 6th to the 20th, the inspection locations were expanded to neighborhood community centers to listen to diverse voices from residents. To organize the district’s opinions through collecting residents’ feedback, 2,000 leaflets were produced and distributed, and residents’ briefing sessions were held in each neighborhood.

The opinion letter, which summarizes residents’ views, includes ▲additional relaxation of height restrictions in Huam-dong, Yongsan 2-ga-dong, Itaewon-dong, and Hannam-dong within the Namsan surrounding height district ▲support for infrastructure linked to small-scale housing maintenance projects ▲consideration of flexible maximum height relaxation (allowance) through landscape simulations ▲and preparation of a relaxation standard plan for the Namsan surrounding height district through consultation with the relevant autonomous districts.

The relaxation of height restrictions around Namsan is a pledge of the 8th local government administration and is actively welcomed by the district. However, for some areas, even the relaxed height limits do not allow for substantial improvements in the residential environment, making policy consideration that reflects local conditions urgently necessary.

These areas are densely populated residential zones naturally formed by North Korean defectors and others after liberation. The overall infrastructure such as buildings and roads is poor, and due to height restriction regulations, aging has intensified, leading to continuous complaints requesting relaxation of the height district.

This reorganization plan for the height district is expected to have positive effects on landscape protection and some improvement of aging residential environments, but it is difficult to achieve substantial residential environment improvements in small parcels with poor road access conditions.

In particular, in the Haebangchon area of Yongsan 2-ga-dong, although the terrain condition is at the same road height as adjacent areas and the height limit for Type 2 General Residential Zone (up to 7 floors) was relaxed from 20m to 28m, the Type 1 General Residential Zone remains at the existing 12m.

As a result, residents in the area have posted banners protesting the height restrictions throughout the region with extreme feelings of loss and anger, strongly demanding correction of the height district reorganization plan, which they see as unfair compared to other areas.

Regarding this height restriction relaxation announcement, the number of residents’ opinions submitted to the city during the inspection period reached as many as 390 cases, and about 1,470 local residents participated in the petition submitted this time.

Park Hee-young, Mayor of Yongsan-gu, said, “While the relaxation of height restrictions around Namsan is something we actively welcome, some areas that are unreasonably treated compared to others likely felt a great sense of loss due to high expectations. We will actively negotiate with Seoul City to ensure that residents’ opinions requesting additional height restriction relaxation are reflected as much as possible.”

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