Suwon City Kills Two Birds with One Stone through Parking Lot Sharing Project

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] Suwon City is achieving effective results in solving parking shortages by utilizing a parking lot sharing project with minimal budget.

On the 18th, a "parking lot sharing project launch ceremony" was held at Seryou Middle School in Suwon. This is the first shared parking lot created by the city at a school. Starting in October, the parking lot (35 spaces) will be open free of charge from 6 p.m. on weekdays and holidays until 8 a.m. the next day. The Seryou 1-dong Administrative Welfare Center will accept usage applications from the 1st to 10th of next month. Suwon City and Seryou Middle School signed an agreement on the "Parking Lot Sharing Project: Happiness Shared" in March. In August, facility improvement construction was carried out using Gyeonggi Province subsidies (50%) and city funds.

The free opening of Seryou Middle School's parking lot is part of the "parking lot sharing project" that the city started last year. It involves opening private parking lots at religious and office facilities to nearby residents. Opening hours vary by facility. The city provides support for parking lot facility improvement construction costs.

In January last year, the city signed its first parking lot sharing agreement with Jung-ang Church (Gyo-dong). Jung-ang Church provides 94 parking spaces in its church parking lot free of charge to residents (excluding Sundays and Wednesdays). In May last year, 232 parking spaces from Suwon First Church, Suwon Youngrak Church, Peace Church with Forest and Spring (Jowon-dong), and Younghwa Church were opened free of charge.

Additionally, the city signed free land lease agreements with LH and KT&G to develop parking lots using LH-owned land (120 spaces) next to Seryou Elementary School and part of the KT&G Suwon Factory site in Jeongja-dong (Daeyupyeong District) (120 spaces). Over the past year, the city has secured 7 shared parking lots (566 spaces).

This year, the city signed parking lot sharing agreements with Seryou Middle School, Peace Church (Homae-sil-dong), and First Church in March. Starting with Seryou Middle School, Peace Church (30 spaces) and First Church (79 spaces) plan to open their parking lots this year. Suwon High Court, which opened in March, also participates in the parking lot sharing project. It will open 100 parking spaces in its affiliated parking lot free of charge at night in October when facility improvement construction is completed.

Sarmyeong Church (Yeongdeungpo-gu) and Suwon Hwasan Church (Jangan-gu) are also expected to participate in the parking lot sharing project this year. Once the two churches' parking lots are added, the city's shared parking spaces will reach 880 spaces.

Through the parking sharing project, the city has resolved parking shortages and secured parking spaces with a minimal budget. The city stated that creating parking lots through land purchase requires a budget ranging from 70 million won to 100 million won per parking space.