37㎢ of Incheon Cultural Heritage Preservation Area Released... Green and Urban Outside Areas Reduced from 500m to 300m

The designated cultural heritage preservation area in Incheon City will be significantly reduced for the first time in 20 years.

On the 5th, Incheon City announced that the ordinance amendment, which focuses on easing regulations on the 'historical and cultural environment preservation area' of city-designated cultural heritage, passed the city council and will be promulgated and enforced on the 19th.

The amendment mainly reduces the preservation area radius from 500m to 300m for green and non-urban areas around cultural heritage sites. The radius of 200m in urban areas will remain unchanged.

There are a total of 63 city-designated cultural heritage sites located in green and non-urban areas of Incheon. According to the amended ordinance, 37.3㎢, which accounts for 59% of the current regulated area of 63.1㎢, will be excluded from the regulation zone. This area is approximately 13 times the size of Yeouido (2.9㎢). In particular, Ganghwa-gun, which has the largest deregulated area, will see a 58% (23.5㎢) reduction from the existing 40.5㎢ regulated area.

Incheon City Monument Ganghwado Dolmen [Photo provided by Incheon City]

Additionally, the regulation area will be reduced for 'Yeongil Jeongssi Dongchun Burial Site' in Dongchun-dong, Yeonsu-gu, and 'Yeongsin-gun Yi Yi Tomb' in Jakjeon-dong, Gyeyang-gu, where continuous complaints were raised due to restrictions on property rights, which is expected to alleviate residents' inconvenience to some extent.

This is the first time since the system was introduced in 2003 that the scope of the historical and cultural environment preservation area has been changed in Incheon. The city attempted to amend the ordinance in 2014 to accommodate residents' demands for deregulation, but it failed due to lack of agreement with the Cultural Heritage Administration at that time.

According to an ongoing survey conducted by Incheon City, the ratio of national and city-designated cultural heritage preservation areas to the administrative district area by city and province is highest in Incheon at 17.3%, excluding Busan.

An official from Incheon City stated, "This ordinance amendment reasonably adjusts excessive cultural heritage regulations," adding, "We will strive for sustainable development by balancing cultural heritage preservation and utilization."

Incheon City Monument Yeongsin-gun Yi Yi's Tomb
[Photo by Incheon City]

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