Ministry of Government Legislation says height rules apply on mixed-zone sites

South Korea's Ministry of Government Legislation said on April 27 that tourism accommodation proposals on sites straddling residential and commercial zones must individually meet residential-area height standards where any general residential area is included.

The interpretation, requested by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, concerned plans to convert an existing building spanning the two zones into a tourism accommodation facility.

It addressed cases in which the portion classified as a general residential area is smaller than the general commercial area and falls below a prescribed size. The issue was whether rules applying the largest zone's construction restrictions would displace the height limit in the tourism accommodation approval standards.

The ministry found that the land-planning provision does not apply when assessing the building-height requirement for tourism accommodation facilities in a general residential area.

Tourism accommodation facilities are generally restricted from being installed in general residential areas under the land-planning law's zone-specific construction rules. However, tourism-promotion rules permit them in such areas after plan approval, provided the developments meet standards designed to protect the residential environment.

Those standards include a height limit requiring each part of a relevant building to remain within twice the horizontal distance from its wall with openings to a neighboring boundary.

The ministry said the land-planning provision sets construction rules for multi-zone sites on the premise that zone-specific restrictions otherwise apply. It therefore cannot extend to cases where tourism-promotion rules expressly exclude the land-planning law's zone-specific construction restrictions for approved facilities.

Under the conclusion, the height standard must be reviewed separately for the residential portion even if a site also includes general commercial land.

The ministry also said that reading the rule otherwise could permit evasion of residential protections by increasing the commercial-area share through subdivision of a building site.