Incheon Metropolitan Council member Kim Woo-sung (Democratic Party, Yeonsu-gu 2) has drawn a favorable response from the Incheon city government on raising the floor area ratio and revising the way resident consent forms are requested in the redevelopment of the aging Yeonsu and Seonhak districts.
Kim said on the 21st that he intensively questioned Yoo Kwang-jo, director of Incheon's Urban Balance Bureau, on plans to advance the redevelopment project during the recent 312th extraordinary session of the Urban Construction Committee. The Yeonsu and Seonhak districts drew strong interest in the pilot district public offering, with applications reaching 6.3 times the volume selected.
The key outcome concerns the floor area ratio. The base floor area ratio for the Yeonsu district is 287%, but the public contribution rate was lowered from an initial 15% to 10% during the council's ordinance enactment process, raising alarms over securing funds for infrastructure improvements. When Kim called for a review of a ratio above 300% to ease residents' contribution burden, Yoo responded, "We have no choice but to raise the floor area ratio to a certain extent for the Yeonsu district alone." Work is under way to raise it as much as possible within the capacity of existing infrastructure such as water supply and schools.
Procedural issues also came under scrutiny. Kim criticized the structure of requiring residents who had already given consent during the second public offering to submit the same consent forms again, calling it "administratively convenient and unreasonable," and Yoo said he would review the matter favorably. Talks with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport are under way to allow areas with mixed rental housing to be separated again.
"The uniform method of designating districts is fueling conflict on the ground," Kim said. "I will continue to check whether raising the floor area ratio and separating areas with mixed rental housing actually leads to easing residents' burden."
