‘쪼개기 허가’ 논란 교원그룹 회장 저택…양평군 공무원 ‘경징계’ 요구

In the controversial development process of a large property owned by a renowned teacher group in Yongpyeong County, the state auditor has uncovered that the board approved a "splitting application," allowing the division of the property into smaller sections. Upon analyzing the situation, the audit revealed that the county demanded disciplinary action against two employees of the teacher group's chairman, Jooheon Park, for his real estate development plans.

The chairman sought permission to build a sprawling property on 13,000 square meters of land in August 2023. To achieve this, the chairman divided the entire land into three zones of less than 5,000 square meters each, requesting separate permits for each. The county granted permits for each individual project in March 2024, leading to the commencement of construction.

This led to numerous complaints from nearby residents about the noise, structural damage, and safety risks associated with large vehicles, such as a large semitrailer and a cargo truck, frequently using a narrow village entrance road. Despite the county being fully aware of the project's scale, it did not conduct a comprehensive review of the overall development plan, instead opting for an inadequate handling of the issue.

According to the current land planning law, a development of between 5,000 and 30,000 square meters requires a minimum road width of 6 meters. However, since the development was less than 5,000 square meters, the county deemed this regulation inapplicable. The county proposed the splitting of the development sites to avoid these regulations.

The county intends to hold a disciplinary committee meeting with the involved public officials in the coming month to decide on disciplinary action. However, the county believes that halting the ongoing construction will be challenging. The teacher group has responded by stating that they followed the legal parameters within the designated boundaries, adhering to proper procedures and standards for the permit process.

They deny any wrongdoing and mentioned that they split the land to avoid regulations, but this decision was not made with the intent to avoid legal obligations. The teacher group also clarified that they consulted with a construction specialist and received separate environmental and disaster impact assessments before proceeding with the divided permits.

They emphasized that they were merely delegating management to an architectural firm and did not engage in any improper actions during the permit process.