Bucheon City Wins Lawsuit Over 80 Billion KRW Land Loss Compensation for Gandeemi Neighborhood Park

Bucheon City in Gyeonggi Province won a lawsuit over land loss compensation related to the 80 billion KRW-scale Godeung-dong Gande-mi Neighborhood Park.

According to the city on the 14th, on the 6th, the Seoul High Court dismissed the appeal filed by the landowner against Bucheon City in the appeal trial for the increase of land expropriation compensation, ordering the plaintiff to bear the litigation costs.

Accordingly, Bucheon City was relieved of the burden of litigation costs, including the lawsuit amount of 80.2 billion KRW and attorney fees of 340 million KRW.

Aerial view of the land for the Gandemi Neighborhood Park Development Project (San 98, Gohang-dong). Provided by Bucheon City.

Since 2021, Bucheon City has been engaged in lawsuits with landowners related to the development projects of Jangan Neighborhood Park (116,104㎡) and Gande-mi Neighborhood Park (25,435㎡) in the Godeung-dong area.

The plaintiff landowners demanded an increase in compensation for the land included in the Gande-mi Neighborhood Park development project, judging the compensation amount based on the residential area zoning at the time of purchase. The city compensated the landowners approximately 4.7 billion KRW for about 24,000㎡ of land during the expropriation process, but the landowners claimed payment of 66.7 billion KRW.

The argument was that although the land use zone at the time of expropriation decision was a natural green area, the prior designation of the land as a park influenced the designation as a natural green area. In reality, compensation prices between residential areas and natural green areas can differ by as little as several times to over a hundred times.

The first trial held in 2022 recognized that the land was already designated as a natural green area before being incorporated into the Gande-mi Neighborhood Park development project, siding with Bucheon City on the key issue of land use zoning. However, the landowners continued to demand compensation based on residential zoning and filed an appeal.

The city countered by pointing out that the urban planning zone of the Godeung-dong area, where the Gande-mi Neighborhood Park development project is underway, belonged to Seoul City in 1963 and was transferred to Bucheon City in 1984, and that both the landowners’ claimed residential zoning decision and the subsequent change to natural green area occurred during the period when the area was part of Seoul City’s urban planning zone before 1984.

Regarding the landowners’ claim that the park designation influenced the change of land use to a natural green area, the city argued that the land had been classified as forest land since 1917, and aerial photographs confirmed that since the 1970s, the land maintained a distinct natural forested hill form clearly separated from neighboring lands. The land originally measured about 34,000㎡, but 10,000㎡ had already been developed in the 1980s, and the remaining 24,000㎡ is undevelopable land, so it is appropriate for it to be designated as a natural green area regardless of the park designation.

The city designated this case as an important lawsuit and formed an additional legal team to respond actively.

They visited the Seoul Archives and the National Archives more than ten times to collect data related to the urban planning of the Godeung-dong area over the past 20 years decided by Seoul City, and additionally secured evidence related to land use zoning that was not obtained in the first trial. The city also argued that the burden of proof for increasing or decreasing loss compensation lies with the landowners, and after 11 rounds of hearings over two years, ultimately secured a victory.

Bucheon City currently has ongoing lawsuits related to land use zoning amounting to 200 billion KRW, and it is expected that this ruling will have a significant impact on two similar lawsuits regarding compensation increases for the Jangan Neighborhood Park development project.

Mayor Jo Yong-ik said, "As a result of the city’s proactive response, we were able to win the appeal trial. Above all, I am very relieved that we were able to protect the 80 billion KRW budget, which would have been a huge burden on the city’s finances."

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