The second task force meeting of 16 Seoul districts was held Wednesday, advancing proposals on small-scale renewal zone criteria and minor change thresholds — shifting the standard from 500 units to 30,000 square meters, and expanding the minor-change threshold from under 10 percent to under 20 percent
Dongjak-gu announced that it held the second meeting of the "Task Force on Transferring Urban Renewal Zone Designation Authority to District Offices" at the Dongjak-gu Office on Wednesday.
The meeting brought together directors of urban renewal divisions from 16 Seoul districts, who worked to flesh out three key proposals: transferring to district offices the authority to designate and modify small-scale renewal zones, expanding the scope of minor changes to renewal plans, and establishing an integrated review committee for small-scale renewal zones.
The districts reached a consensus on developing concrete supplementary measures that would minimize concerns over the authority transfer while enabling faster renewal projects tailored to local conditions.
On the question of defining small-scale renewal zones, the participants agreed to recommend a statutory amendment replacing the previously discussed threshold of "fewer than 500 residential units" with an area-based standard of "30,000 square meters or less."
Because unit counts can change as a project progresses, the districts opted for the more objective area-based criterion, with plans to develop a small-scale renewal zone guideline that accounts for project type and local conditions going forward.
The meeting also continued discussions on expanding the scope of minor changes to renewal plans in order to reduce unnecessary administrative procedures.
The districts are pursuing a plan to raise the threshold for minor changes — covering renewal zone area, infrastructure scale, and building coverage and floor area ratios — from under 10 percent to under 20 percent. They also plan to add "changes to the use or scale of public facility buildings" to the list of items eligible as minor changes, reflecting actual demand observed at district-level sites.
Recognizing that a transfer of zone designation authority to district offices would necessarily carry with it the power to conduct integrated reviews, the task force refined the existing agenda item on transferring integrated review authority into a concrete proposal for establishing an integrated review committee for small-scale renewal zones.
To that end, the participants discussed how the committee would operate, including a proposal to add a provision to the relevant enforcement decree mandating that related agencies recommend committee members.
Building on the results of the second task force meeting, Dongjak-gu plans to refine its reform proposals and submit them to the 204th regular meeting of the Seoul District Mayors' Council on Wednesday, after which it will recommend statutory amendments to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
"The purpose of transferring authority is not simply to move power from Seoul to the districts — it is to eliminate procedures that are needlessly repeated on the ground and to build a system that allows renewal projects to move forward more quickly," Dongjak-gu District Mayor Ryu Sam-young said. "We will put in place sufficient safeguards to address Seoul's concerns and present a rational reform proposal that both the city and the districts can fully support."
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