Yongin City Signs Nation's First Urban Natural Park Green Space Use Contract

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hoon] Yongin City announced on the 16th that it has signed a green space use contract for the first time in the nation with five landowners for 1.49 million square meters (450,000 pyeong) within an urban natural park zone.

This is a follow-up measure to the city's decision in July to utilize 7.11 million square meters (2.15 million pyeong) of land in eight urban natural park zones (Guseong 1·2, Yubang, Jukjeon, Singal, Hagal, Bojeong 1·2) as citizen green rest spaces.

Urban natural park zones are land use areas where development is restricted for purposes such as landscape protection, and unlike long-neglected urban parks, they are not subject to the statute of limitations.

While the city recognized this as a valuable resource, it was unable to utilize the green space because it is privately owned, and landowners faced difficulties in exercising their property rights.

To alleviate these issues, the city signed land use contracts with landowners in five-year units and installed walking paths and exercise and rest facilities to provide citizens with rest spaces, while granting landowners property tax reduction benefits.

The city plans to invest 1 billion won by next year in the four locations—Guseong, Jukjeon, Yubang, and Hagal—that signed contracts this time, to create meditation decks, literary rest areas, and harmony forests, and will prioritize providing them to citizens.

Additionally, the city plans to accept applications from remaining urban natural park zone landowners and sequentially sign contracts.

Yongin City Mayor Baek Kun-gi said, "This green space use contract will be a good administrative practice that mitigates property damage to landowners and provides citizens with comfortable rest spaces without significant financial burden to the city."