http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiw.../08/2003529811
Legislator seeks Urban Renewal Act probe
By Shih Hsiu-chuan / Staff reporter
Protesters at the site of the recently demolished Wang family homes in Taipei’s Shilin District yesterday hang a banner calling for a review of the case and of the controversial Urban Renewal Act.
Photo: Huang Chi-hao, Taipei Times
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) said he planned to submit a request for a constitutional interpretation by the Council of Grand Justices of a few “problematic” provisions of the Urban Renewal Act (都市更新條例).
The initiative comes after the recent forced demolition by the Taipei City Government of two homes in Taipei City’s Shilin District (士林) owned by a family surnamed Wang (王) to make way for an urban renewal project.
The Wang family resisted moving from the homes in which they had lived for six generations, but their forced eviction was allowed to proceed because more than 90 percent of households in the area had already agreed to move.
Critics say the forcible eviction of the Wang family was a violation of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to property.
Lu said the case highlighted flaws in the Urban Renewal Act, which was initially aimed at facilitating urban renewal, but turned out to be an “incomprehensible piece of legislation.”
One of the provisions that could be unconstitutional is that it entitles developers to demarcate an area for urban renewal when they obtain the consent of a certain proportion of the owners of the private land or buildings in the area, and complete a legal procedure, Lu said.
As such, residents who oppose the project can be forced to move, which is against the Constitution, because it stipulates that freedom of residence is an essential constitutional right. The Constitution also guarantees people’s right to live, work and own property, he said.
“The Urban Renewal Act is being enacted based on the spirit of majority rule and it lacks mechanisms to protect the rights of a minority,” Lu said.
Another provision that could be unconstitutional is that the act gives local authorities the power to carry out demolition work if tenants who are against the project declined to leave their properties within a stipulated period of time, Lu said.
“The provision is in violation of fundamental human rights,” he said.
According to Lu, other flaws in the Urban Renewal Act are that developers are in control of the urban renewal system, as they can initiate urban renewal projects by organizing related public exhibitions and public hearings, and they can be granted construction licenses and also pre-sell units before all tenants agree to the development.
The problems highlighted in the Wang case showed that the provisions that allow private enterprises to initiate urban renewal projects in the name of the public good could be counter to the principle of proportionality, that is the means for legislation to strike a balance between public welfare and restrictions on individual rights, he said.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiw.../07/2003529744
Urban Renewal Act revision to focus on landowners
Staff writer, with CNA
Protecting the rights of landowners should be one of the central focuses of an upcoming overhaul of the Urban Renewal Act (都市更新條例), a move prompted by the controversy surrounding the recent forced demolition of two homes in Taipei, lawyer Tsai Chih-yang (蔡志揚) said yesterday.
Developers had “too much influence” during the drafting of earlier amendments to the law and this time revisions should focus on the rights of landowners, individuals and the government, Tsai said during a hearing held by a group of Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers.
Lawmakers were partly to blame for passing a law that was so flawed and did not include any clauses favorable to landowners, he said.
Tsai is a member of an advisory group set up earlier this week by the Taipei City Government to provide professional guidance on how the city should undertake future urban renewal projects.
The group was established in the wake of the eviction of the Wang family in the city’s Shilin District (士林) last month to clear the way for a new residential -complex, which critics have said was a violation of the family’s property rights.
The Ministry of the Interior has promised to propose a draft amendment to the Urban Renewal Act within three months to address its shortcomings.
Coalition for the Victims of Urban Renewal leader Peng Lung-san (彭龍三) said the term “public interest,” which appears in Article 1 of the law, should be clearly defined and used to refer to public infrastructure.
There should be a mechanism that allows landowners to opt out of urban renewal projects when their property is not considered hazardous and the project in question does not involve public infrastructure, he said.
Urban Renewal Division head Chen Hsing-lung (陳興隆) said that the Construction and Planning Agency had so far come up with more than 20 proposed revisions to strengthen the protection of landowners’ rights.
Three public hearings will be held in the coming weeks to allow all sectors of society to express their opinions, he added.