Citizen participation, Park creation, History documentation etc. are being launched

▲ Even after the decision on return of Camp Market was made (2003), the return had been delayed for 16 years from difference between the Korean and the US two parties on environmental pollution cleaning issue. Incheon which received Camp Market back in December 2019 has been working hard in restrictive conditions. The picture shows the US Army Corps of Engineers facility in ASCOM City of Bupyeong Camp Market.

Incheon has prepared a ‘Welcome to Future 10-year Roadmap of Bupyeong Camp Market’ which consists of schedules and work to be done from the point of return of Bupyeong US Military base (Camp Market).

After the decision on return of Camp Market was made, the return had been delayed for 16 years from difference between the Korean and the US two parties on environmental pollution cleaning issue. Incheon, which had Camp Market returned in December of 2019, has been working hard in spite of restrictive conditions. These conditions are: ▲ Large amount of land purchase cost (approximately KRW 500 billion) ▲ Quick launch of earth contamination cleansing (June 2019) ▲ Boundary fences of the unreturned area and temporary opening ▲ Community opinion survey ▲ Having no ownership on the road construction and illegal buildings maintenance.

The roadmap established work strategy for each period (past/ present/ future) and contains: ▲ Release and return of the US Miliary Service area ▲ Communication in the community and how to use ▲ (4 steps) Park building plan and construction plans.
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▲ Incheon prepared ‘Welcome to Future 10-year Roadmap of Camp Market in Bupyeong’ which contains schedule and work plans from the return of the Bupyeong US Military base and until completion of the park construction. The picture is a part of the roadmap.

Also, for plans for each sector include: ▲ Community public opinion promotion plan ▲ Participation governance establishment plan ▲ Park construction plan and action plan ▲ Change of the City plan ▲ History documentation (archiving) action plan.

 The main topic in this content was the community public opinion promotion plan. They are looking for ways for the citizens to participate in various programs such as citizen public contest, citizen participation organization, opinion survey and tribute movement. The city reflected the citizens’ opinion that they want to participate in the construction of Camp Market park when there was a civil petition last March.
 

Before starting on the public debate, they are going to establish the method in terms of how to refer to the public opinion by looking into the policy. They chose to listen to the public opinion in a systematical manner even if it may take some time.

▲ According to the location roadmap of Camp Market, the former US Military Base area will be transformed into a community park, an area for the citizens by 2028.

 All areas of the US Military base (Camp Market) are going to be returned by the end of the year but work such as environmental contamination research and environment cleansing still remains to be done. This is going to be put up for public debate in the meantime and plans are to be made on how to build the park.

Dong-Suk Jeong, Director of City Planning of Incheon said, “While making the roadmap, we established the strategy and listed the work to be done in detail, then we could see what needed to be done. We will be able to discuss with the community for important events beforehand.”. He also added, “We hope to build the Camp Market park by our own hands of the Incheon community.”.

After the return was finalized, it was difficult to meet many of the participating citizens due to the COVID-19 outbreak, but the public debate will resume after the community immunity has been reached. According to the roadmap, what used to be the US Military base area will be transformed into a community park and will be a part of the citizens recreation area by 2028.