Kim Jong-bae, Incheon City Council Member, "Excessive Height Restriction Regulations at Subong Park Should Be Relaxed"

A claim has been made to lift the excessive height restriction regulations on Subong Park located in Michuhol-gu, Incheon.

According to the Incheon City Council on the 6th, Assemblyman Kim Jong-bae (National, Michuhol 4) stated during the second plenary session of the 293rd extraordinary meeting held the previous day, "Since the height district of Subong Park was first designated in 1984, the regulations have been suffocating the area, neglecting the lives of citizens, so a reasonable improvement plan is necessary."

The height restrictions in the Subong height district, which have continued for 40 years, were initially set at 2 floors and 7 meters in 1984, then changed to 2 floors 7m to 4 floors 14m in 1997, 4 floors 14m to conditional 5 floors 17m in 2007, and in 2016, the regulation was set to 15m overall without floor distinction to conditional 19m.

The Subong height district covers an area of 551,436㎡, with quasi-residential areas accounting for 473,023㎡ (85.8%), making it a commercially oriented area. However, 83% of the buildings are 1 to 2 floors with a building coverage ratio of 60% or less and a floor area ratio of 250% or less. Among 2,267 buildings, 74.1% are single-family houses, while only 13.4% are multi-family housing. Additionally, 61.3% of the buildings are aged between 20 to 45 years, causing severe economic stagnation and population outflow in the area.

Changes in Landscape Damage in Subong Elevated District [Provided by Kim Jong-bae, Incheon City Council Member]

Compared to cases such as Seoul's 'Namsan', Busan's 'Sanbok Road', and Suwon Hwaseong, the height district of Subong Park is excessive. Seoul City relaxed the height restrictions on Namsan last July.

Assemblyman Kim pointed out, "The reason why the Subongsan height district is excessively regulated is that the walking trail around Subongsan was set starting from the road outside the green zone." In fact, the road outside the 107m summit green zone has widespread building regulations limiting structures to 15m or less from the entrance of the walking trail. This contrasts with Namsan, where regulations are centered around the mid-mountain walking trail.

Kim said, "The effectiveness of the height district has diminished since apartments were built in 2019, damaging the landscape of Subongsan. How long must residents endure this?" He urged, "The basic concept of Incheon City's landscape management must be reset."

Unlike Wolmi Park, where the height district was lifted in 2016, Subong Park remains under regulation, raising claims of reverse discrimination. Wolmi Park is 108m, Subong Park is 107m, and the number of buildings is 329 in Wolmi Park and 2,267 in Subong Park. However, building heights in Wolmi Park are limited to 50m or less, while in Subong Park they are limited to 15-19m, showing a significant difference.

Assemblyman Kim emphasized, "As reviewed by the Incheon Development Institute, the absolute building height in the Subong Park height district should be managed not to exceed 55-65m, and the regulations should be relaxed to allow buildings of 15 floors or less, similar to Wolmi Park."

In response, Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok stated, "It is difficult to significantly relax the Subong height district like the flat Wolmi height district, but considering the long-standing wishes of residents, we will review the relaxation of building height standards."

Kim Jong-bae, Incheon City Council Member [Photo by Incheon City Council]

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