Yeounghung Park Private Development Project Resumes Following Agreement Between City and Residents

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Suh Dong-young] The private development project for Yeounghung Park in Suwon is set to resume in earnest following negotiations between Suwon City and the 'Yeounghung Park Emergency Countermeasures Committee.'

The Yeounghung Park private development project was suspended following an 'Environmental Impact Assessment Briefing' held in November of last year due to complaints including 'opposition to relocating the soccer field within the park,' 'opposition to constructing a four-lane access road,' and 'reduction of park parking facilities.'

The city and the emergency committee held four rounds of meetings and continued dialogue, resulting in a final agreement.

The agreement includes ▲withdrawal of the plan to relocate the soccer field within the park ▲creation of a lawn plaza at the planned site following consultation with residents ▲reduction of the four-lane access road to three lanes ▲reduction in the scale of park parking facilities.

Additionally, the city agreed to consult with the emergency committee on various matters related to the Yeounghung Park private development project, including reviewing free admission to the Yeounghung Arboretum for nearby residents.

The city plans to quickly proceed with remaining administrative procedures such as coordination on the environmental impact assessment and obtain implementation plan approval in the first half of the year, with construction on the park to begin in the second half.

Cho Moo-young, the city's Vice Mayor, stated, "Through candid communication between the city and the emergency committee, pending issues that seemed impossible to resolve have been settled," and evaluated it as "a model of governance administration through understanding and empathy." He added, "Going forward, we will communicate with local residents throughout the project process and successfully develop Yeounghung Park."

Yeounghung Park is a neighborhood park covering an area of 571,308 square meters in the Woncheon-dong area, designated as a park facility in June 1969. Under the 'Urban Park Sunset Provision,' it is a long-standing undeveloped park that will be removed from urban parks if not developed by July of this year.

To prevent haphazard development and return the park to citizens, the city pioneered the 'Private Park Special Exception Project' nationwide in January 2016. Through a competitive selection process, Daewoo E&C; Consortium was selected as the private park project operator.

The private park special exception system allows private developers to create long-standing undeveloped urban parks in exchange for permitting some land for private development projects.