Incheon sets criteria for residents’ representation in reconstruction of aging cities, with seats allocated by complex

【Financial News, Incheon = Han Gab-soo, reporter】 Incheon City has established criteria for forming residents’ representative bodies, the first step in redevelopment projects for aging planned cities. Taking into account the competing interests of individual housing complexes in large-scale reconstruction projects, the criteria guarantee a basic number of representatives for each complex and require both land area and household numbers to be considered in forming the representative body. The aim is to reduce disputes among residents over representation from the early stages of redevelopment projects.
Incheon City said it had established the “Criteria for Forming Residents’ Representative Bodies in Planned Special Maintenance Districts for Aging Planned Cities” and announced them on the 2nd.
Under the criteria, a residents’ representative body must have between 5 and 25 members, including one representative and an auditor. It must obtain approval from the designating authority after securing the consent of a majority of land and other property owners.
A notable feature is the allocation of different numbers of representatives to each housing complex. In a district comprising 2 complexes, 3 representatives are allocated to each complex; in districts with 3–4 complexes, 2 to each; and in districts with 5 or more, 1 to each as the basic allocation.
After the basic allocation is set, remaining seats are divided by giving equal 50% weight to each complex’s share of the land area and its share of the total number of households. The remaining seats are allocated in sequence, starting with the complex with the largest fractional remainder.
Because large complexes with many households could be relatively advantaged in forming the residents’ representative body, the criteria guarantee every complex a minimum level of representation while also taking the size of each complex into account. In this way, they seek to ensure representation for individual complexes while maintaining fairness across the district as a whole.
The city also recommended participation by commercial property owners. It recommended allocating at least 2 representatives for commercial property owners across the planned special maintenance district as a whole, so that their interests, as well as those of residential property owners, are reflected in the redevelopment process.
The powers and role of the residents’ representative body are also noteworthy. It can do more than gather residents’ opinions: it can perform key tasks in the early stages of a project, including selecting and replacing the project implementer, prospective project implementer and overall project manager; preparing a special maintenance plan; preparing for association formation and the designation of a project implementer; and proposing the designation of a special maintenance district.
How residents’ opinions are coordinated as a project moves forward may vary depending on how the residents’ representative body is formed and who takes part. In particular, in projects that bring several housing complexes and commercial properties together in a single maintenance district, representation for each complex and the coordination of competing interests may become key factors in advancing the project.
The criteria are a follow-up measure to an amendment last August to the Special Act on the Improvement and Support of Aging Planned Cities, which established a legal basis for the composition, approval and functions of residents’ representative bodies. An amendment to related guidelines on the 14th of that same month also allowed the designating authority to set criteria for the number of members in a residents’ representative body, taking local conditions and the characteristics of each project into account.
Before establishing the criteria, the city held two resident meetings in September and October, and incorporated feedback gathered from residents between September 17 and 30 into the criteria.
The city plans to support the formation of residents’ representative bodies and the initial procedures for redevelopment projects based on the announced criteria.
Yu Gwang-jo, head of the city’s Urban Balance Bureau, said, “Through these criteria, we will ensure representation for each housing complex and reduce unnecessary disputes among residents.”
[email protected] Han Gab-soo Reporter