Goyang City loses administrative appeal for rejecting construction report for Deok-i Data Center

Goyang City loses administrative appeal for rejecting construction report for Deok-i Data Center

[Goyang Shinmun] Goyang City, which rejected the construction report for the Deok-i Data Center (DC) last August, lost the administrative appeal against MagnaPFV, a GS Construction affiliate, on the 14th.

The Gyeonggi-do Administrative Appeals Commission (hereinafter referred to as Gyeonggi-do) ruled in favor of MagnaPFV, stating,

The plaintiff’s construction report cannot be rejected due to non-compliance with the supplementary matters in this case. Therefore, Goyang City’s rejection is illegal.

Earlier, Magna PFV, an affiliate of GS E&C, had received a building permit in March of last year for the purpose of building Deok-i DC at a total construction cost of 150 billion won in Deok-i-dong 309-56, Ilsanseo-gu, and was scheduled to begin construction in the first half of this year. Goyang City approved the permit on the grounds that there were “no legal issues,” but residents of the Tanhyeon Keunmaeul apartment complex and nearby residents who heard the news late began to voice concerns and opposition. Mayor Lee Dong-hwan, who met with resident representatives in the first and second rounds early this year, announced that he would conduct a legal review of ex officio cancellation through the Emergency Response Committee and began reviewing ex officio cancellation of the building permit in May.

The legal advice review results showed that the ex officio cancellation of a building permit is ‘inappropriate’ and therefore impossible. The review explains that ‘cancelling a building permit solely based on subjective judgment without objective factual confirmation of damage to residents is likely to be judged as exceeding the limits of discretionary authority.’ The result is that it is inappropriate to ex officio cancel a lawful building permit solely based on concerns about future damage that have not been objectively verified.

Meanwhile, MagnaPFV submitted a construction commencement report to Goyang City in June for a data center with a total area of ​​16,945㎡ (approximately 5,125 pyeong) on ​​the planned site, with 2 underground floors and 5 above-ground floors (49.84 m in height). However, Goyang City requested MagnaPFV to supplement measures for coexistence with local residents and expected effects from data center operation on four occasions. In response, MagnaPFV submitted supplementary documents on electromagnetic waves, noise, etc., and a plan to hire Goyang City residents.

However, Goyang City rejected the construction commencement application submitted by MagnaPFV in August, saying,

The supplementary content submitted by the company did not meet the level we requested, so we decided to reject it.

In response, MagnaPFV filed an administrative appeal against Goyang City with Gyeonggi Province on the 2nd of last month. This administrative appeal is MagnaPFV’s response to Goyang City’s rejection of the construction commencement application, and Goyang City lost the case after 42 days.

While the administrative trial was in progress, there were political movements to resolve the conflict by seeking an alternative site for Deok-i-dong DC, but no solution was found. On September 24, when the Deok-i-dong current issue policy discussion meeting was held, Assemblyman Kim Young-hwan (Goyang-jeong) and Provincial Assemblyman Kim Wan-gyu (Songpo, Deok-i, Gajwa) stated,

We received a positive response from the landowner that we could find an alternative site and return the land, but GS Construction, the construction company, refused.

In response, GS Construction stated in a press release, “The alternative site is too large compared to the Deok-i-dong business site and does not have enough electricity, so we could not accept it.”

Tanhyeon-dong residents who oppose
the data center are having a hard time accepting the result of Goyang City’s defeat, saying,

This administrative appeal result is Goyang City’s complacent response.

The Tanhyeon Emergency Committee (Chairman Lee Ki-hyun) opposing the construction of Deok-i DC also applied for a resident administrative appeal to Gyeonggi Province on the 7th of this month against Goyang City. Gyeonggi Province previously ruled in favor of Magna PFV, and residents are interested in the emergency committee’s application for a resident administrative appeal. The emergency committee also filed an administrative appeal against Mayor Lee Dong-hwan in order to overturn the Deok-i DC construction permit itself, thus countering GS Construction.

Accordingly, the hearing date for the results of the administrative appeal by the emergency committee and Goyang City was set for November 25, one month later. In addition to the application for administrative appeal, the emergency committee also submitted a petition from 6,000 nearby residents and a collection of signatures opposing 15,000 people. It was revealed that the emergency committee recently hired a large law firm for the administrative appeal, and they have maintained a consistent position, saying, “We are absolutely opposed to the construction of Deok-i DC.”

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Goyang City loses administrative appeal for rejecting construction report for Deok-i Data Center, source