Goyang in Gyeonggi Province will again lift the development restriction zone (green belt) on the planned site for the new city hall in Jugyo-dong, Deokyang District. The green belt was lifted in 2022 to build the new city hall, but the effect of the lifting lapsed in May after the project was halted under the eighth popularly elected administration. Goyang will have to redo the key urban-planning procedures it completed four years ago. In the meantime, the estimated project cost rose by 115.7 billion won, from 295.1 billion won to 410.8 billion won.
According to Goyang on the 9th, the city has begun establishing an urban management plan to again lift the green belt on 806,150 square meters around 206-1 Jugyo-dong. On the 3rd, it urgently put out a 170 million won contract for related services.
The services include setting the boundary for lifting the green belt, establishing the urban management plan, changing land-use zoning, and designating an urban-planning facility for a public office building. While past basic and detailed designs and administrative data can be used, the core urban-planning procedures such as lifting the green belt and changing land-use zoning must be carried out again.
The Jugyo-dong new city hall project took off in May 2020 when the site was selected. Goyang held an international design competition in 2021, and Gyeonggi Province lifted the green belt on the site in May 2022. In June that year, Goyang also completed the land-use zoning change and the designation of an urban-planning facility for a public office building. The plan at the time was to break ground in May 2023 and complete construction in Oct. 2025.
However, after the launch of the eighth popularly elected administration, the plan to build the new city hall changed. Former Goyang Mayor Lee Dong-hwan said in Jan. 2023 that instead of newly building the new city hall in Jugyo-dong, city hall would move to an office building in Baekseok-dong, Ilsan-dong District. As a result, the ongoing design work for the new city hall was also halted.
The former mayor also proposed an idea to promptly restore the Jugyo-dong site to a green belt and then expand the project area to more than 200,000 square meters to push the "Wondang Re-creation Project." But it did not lead to a concrete project. The Baekseok-dong transfer plan also failed to move forward after receiving decisions for reconsideration and rejection in Gyeonggi Province's investment review.
In the meantime, the Jugyo-dong new city hall site missed the statutory groundbreaking deadline. Under the Act on Special Measures for Designation and Management of Development Restriction Zones, if a project does not start within four years after the green belt lifting notice, the effect of the lifting lapses. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on June 16 that the green belt and land-use zoning of the Jugyo-dong site were restored as of May 14.
After the launch of the ninth popularly elected administration, the site for the new city hall returned to Jugyo-dong. Goyang Mayor Min Kyung-seon pledged during the June 3 local elections to build the new city hall in Jugyo-dong as originally planned. On July 29, Goyang requested a reinvestigation of the project's feasibility from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. The Baekseok-dong office building will be used as a hub for future industries such as aerospace and industry-academia convergence.
The location of the new city hall is also intertwined with residents' interests over whether to place Goyang's administrative and development center in Deokyang or Ilsan. Because a city hall affects nearby commercial districts, development, and transportation infrastructure, regional opinions have been divided over building in Jugyo-dong versus a transfer to Baekseok-dong.
While the project stalled, the fiscal burden grew. The estimated project cost, which was 295.1 billion won in 2022, is now 410.8 billion won, up 115.7 billion won. The new city hall construction fund created by Goyang stands at about 229.4 billion won, including interest. Compared with the current estimated project cost, there is a shortfall of 181.4 billion won. The final project scope and financing plan will be finalized after the feasibility reinvestigation.
An official with Goyang's new city hall construction team said, "Because we have already lifted the green belt once in the past, we plan to shorten the procedures as much as possible in consultation with Gyeonggi Province," adding, "We are pushing administrative procedures with the goal of breaking ground in the first half of 2028."