[Herald Business = Senior Reporter Park Jong-il] Seoul's Eunpyeong-gu said the flight safety zone covering the Susaek-dong area is expected to shrink following the Ministry of National Defense's move to reclassify its air operations base, raising hopes for eased building height restrictions and a revival of long-stalled development projects in the district.
The change stems from the Defense Ministry's plan to reclassify the existing "support air operations base" as a "helicopter-only operations base." Under the reclassification, the flight safety zone radius would shrink from 3,000 meters to 1,000 meters.
As a result, most of the Susaek-dong area currently subject to flight safety zone restrictions would be freed from regulation. Two major development projects that have faced repeated setbacks — an urban public housing complex on the site of the former Susaek Zone 14 and a mixed-use development at the Susaek Station transit-oriented area — are expected to gain significant momentum.
The Susaek-dong area has long been designated a military flight safety zone, subjecting it to building height limits and a range of development restrictions that have also hampered residents' ability to exercise their property rights.
The former Susaek Zone 14 in particular has been constrained by height limits stemming from its overlap with the flight safety zone, making efficient land use and project planning difficult.
To address these restrictions, Eunpyeong-gu commissioned an obstacle impact assessment study to build an objective case for adjusting the flight safety zone and relaxing building height limits.
Drawing on those findings, the district has since 2024 repeatedly urged the Defense Ministry and other relevant agencies to review the flight safety zone boundaries and revise the applicable standards. Those efforts have now produced a tangible result in the Defense Ministry's reclassification push.
The district views the deregulation as the single biggest turning point for redevelopment in the Susaek-dong area and said it will move swiftly to support all related administrative procedures — including permits and approvals — to ensure development proceeds without delay.
"The Defense Ministry's move to reclassify the air operations base is a meaningful achievement that realizes the long-held wish of Susaek-dong residents to ease flight safety zone restrictions," district mayor Kim Mi-kyung said. "We will actively support efforts to accelerate development projects across the Susaek-dong area on the strength of this progress."
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