Large Apartment Complex to Be Built on Suwon Youngtong District Medical Facility Site Left Undeveloped for 25 Years

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Jung Jun-seong] The comprehensive medical facility site in Suwon's Youngtong District (Youngtong-dong 961-11), which has been left undeveloped for 25 years, will be converted to residential complex land and developed into a large apartment complex.

Kim Jong-seok, director of the Urban Policy Bureau of Suwon City, announced on the 16th at the Suwon Convention Center the 'pre-negotiation results for the Youngtong District comprehensive medical facility site' from the pre-negotiation committee.

According to the city, the site is the only undeveloped land (area 31,376 square meters) in the Youngtong residential development district completed in 1997, but has been left undeveloped for 25 years, resulting in various problems such as damage to urban landscape and environment and concerns over safety accidents, with citizen complaints for development continuing.

In response, the city commissioned the Suwon City Research Institute for Urban Planning in 2020 to review the feasibility. As a result, it concluded that there are six general hospitals within a 5-kilometer radius of the site, making it unlikely to be feasible to construct an additional general hospital. The city determined that an urban planning solution was needed, involving gathering local resident opinions and seeking regional development measures through pre-negotiation.

The city introduced a pre-negotiation system to find ways to address the development neglect of the comprehensive medical facility site from an urban planning perspective, and organized and operated a pre-negotiation committee from June 2021 to ensure transparency in the process and rationality and public interest in the business plan, ending it last January.

The pre-negotiation committee is composed of experts in urban planning, real estate development, property appraisal, and pre-negotiation, as well as civic organizations, city council members, the Suwon City Research Institute for Urban Planning, Suwon City officials, and developers.

Through resident surveys and five meetings, the pre-negotiation committee established a land use plan that abolishes the current urban planning facility 'comprehensive medical facility' without changing the zoning district, and newly establishes residential complex land, medical facility land, and pedestrian-only roads.

Additionally, as a result of a resident survey on site utilization methods, 89.9% agreed with the opinion of 'allowing profit-making projects and securing public interest.' Through meetings, an opinion of 'accepting public contribution' was drawn out through consultation between Eulji Educational Foundation, the business proponent, and the Ministry of Education, and property appraisal for public contribution (development profit recovery) was also conducted. Negotiations were completed with a business plan including a public contribution of 73 billion won, and the business proponent notified of 'acceptance' opinion.

The negotiation plan's main contents are changing the site's use to construct residential housing on approximately 89% of the site, attracting a children's specialized hospital on approximately 5%, and installing infrastructure such as roads on the remaining land.

In particular, the pre-negotiation committee negotiated the use of public contribution based on survey results from local residents, and the selected public facility utilization plans include △new construction of Youngtong Library △installation of an ecological pedestrian bridge connecting Younghung Forest Park and Youngtong Central Park △remodeling of Youngtong Central Park △remodeling of Youngtong Children's Traffic Park △opening of pedestrian-only roads for access to Youngtong Central Park, etc.

The city plans to proceed with administrative procedures including formulation of district unit plans, consultation with related departments, public viewing and announcement, and deliberation by joint committees. The residential construction project will be promoted after the district unit plan is publicly announced, and public contribution facilities will be completed before the apartment complex is completed, with plans to provide improved public services to local residents at an early date.

Construction costs for public contribution facilities will be verified through a cost verification organization and transparently planned and executed. After the district unit plan is decided, if authorization, approval, and other procedures are not completed within three years and construction does not commence, there are plans to strengthen the responsibility and obligations of the business proponent, such as reverting to the urban plan prior to the change.

In addition, the city plans to promote legislation of the 'urban plan change pre-negotiation system' to develop unused or underutilized sites owned by private and public organizations while securing public interest. The 'urban plan change pre-negotiation system' is to realize development that ensures public interest based on agreement between the public and private sectors.

Kim Jong-seok, director of the Urban Policy Bureau, said "Once the comprehensive medical facility site is developed, various urban problems such as spatial discontinuity in urban areas will be resolved and will have a positive impact on regional environment improvement," and added "Through public contribution, we will also make substantial improvements to key public facilities in the region, expanding public services so that residents and the local community receive practical benefits."

He continued, "Through legislation of the pre-negotiation system, we will establish a systematic framework for urban planning change tasks, block unnecessary favoritism controversies, and also secure the justification of the plan," and revealed "We plan to complete legislation of the pre-negotiation system by the first half of this year."