Yongsan Park development, floor area ratio hike discussed
Mayor opposes transferring permit authority to district mayors for smaller projects
City requests legislative support for housing supply expansion
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon met Tuesday with People Power Party lawmakers on the National Assembly's Land and Transportation Committee to discuss real estate policy issues, including the proposed development of Yongsan Park.
Oh and the committee members gathered for a dinner lasting nearly three hours at the Seoul mayor's official residence in Hannam-dong. The meeting was arranged to discuss committee-related policy matters ahead of next month's national audit.
At the dinner, Oh and the PPP lawmakers reaffirmed their opposition to the government and ruling party's proposal to develop sites within Yongsan Park for housing supply. They also confirmed their opposition to a separate proposal that would transfer permitting authority over redevelopment projects of 500 units or fewer to district mayors.
On the ruling party's proposal to raise the legal maximum floor area ratio by 1.2 times for private redevelopment projects across Seoul — excluding Gangnam, Seocho and Songpa-gu and Yongsan-gu — party representatives said further discussion at the floor level was needed, indicating that an immediate agreement between the ruling and opposition parties would be difficult.
"We had a wide-ranging exchange of views with PPP members of the National Assembly's Land and Transportation Committee on real estate issues facing Seoul, including Yongsan Park," a Seoul Metropolitan Government official said. "We particularly discussed ways to expand housing supply and revitalize redevelopment projects, and requested the National Assembly's cooperation on legislative and regulatory improvements to support those goals."
A total of eight people attended the dinner, and participants said there was almost no discussion of internal party matters.
ikson@heraldcorp.com
