Shezi Island section-wise expropriation triggers clan inheritance disputes and a village chief recall as 50 years of accumulated conflict erupt

(Continued from previous article) Beside the weekend Shezi Market, a red banner was hung, boldly announcing a signature station to "Recall Fu'an Village Chief Hsieh Wen-chia." Members of the recall campaign frequently greeted passing residents, gathering signatures to "immediately develop Shezi Island" and "recall the village chief."

On the other end, walking into the alleys of Xizhoudi on Shezi Island, the entrance of the Fu'an Village Chief's office was filled with supporters who had come to offer their regards. Village Chief Hsieh Wen-chia received a steady stream of calls of concern, with the person on the other end repeatedly assuring their support, while Hsieh thanked them profusely, carrying more than a hint of election-season tension.

In 2015, because the Taipei City Government proposed a redevelopment plan, and due to the complex property rights and the large number of landowners, two factions formed on the island in a tug-of-war: those in favor and those opposed. The former established a promotion association, while the latter formed a self-rescue association. The entanglement between urban development and housing justice gave rise to a village chief recall case that tore apart this quiet village.

Taipei's last rural village, the "Ecological Shezi Island" plan to expropriate the entire area

Shezi Island is not truly an island. It is located in the northwestern corner of Shilin District, Taipei, formed by the alluvial plain where the Tamsui River and Keelung River converge. Due to a 50-year construction ban, Shezi Island seems frozen in time, preserving the waterfront culture and intertidal wetlands of earlier days. On holidays, it attracts many city residents to cycle along the Shezi Island levee, yet very few venture into the labyrinthine winding paths inside the island to explore.

Few people know that Shezi Island is full of farmland and has been a vegetable production base for greater Taipei for many years. Residents cheerfully joke about themselves, saying "Shezi Island is Taipei's last rural village," seemingly unfazed by the "rural village" label and instead proud of preserving its strong sense of human warmth.

During his tenure as mayor, Hau Lung-bin proposed the "Taipei Manhattan" plan, which was expected to develop Shezi Island with high intensity, but it did not pass environmental review. After Ko Wen-je took office, amid controversy over the low turnout in the i-voting, the "Ecological Shezi Island" plan barely passed, planning to expropriate the entire area and develop it over ten years into a new urban district combining landscape, industry, and housing.

Both city and countryside, Shezi Island's 50-year frozen property rights problem erupts

However, the development plan immediately faced the long-accumulated land property rights problems of Shezi Island. Hsieh Wen-chia, the 19th generation reclaimer of Shezi Island and Fu'an Village chief, said, "The problem of complex land shares is precisely because Shezi Island follows the land-use customs of a rural society."

Early settlements on Shezi Island were organized by clan groups living together, and mutual care was commonplace. Land was left for relatives and friends who had not moved away to expand their homes, and the separation of house and land ownership was very common. Due to flooding and the construction ban, the environment was old and dilapidated. Low rents attracted urban-rural migrants from central and southern Taiwan to settle there. After cross-generational inheritance and transfers, many residents could no longer tell who owned the land they lived on.

But from the perspective of land development, Shezi Island sits on 300 hectares of vast land at the edge of the city, which is tantamount to inviting trouble simply for possessing a treasure. As the city expands, development potential grows daily. Real estate developers and investors have continuously acquired scattered Shezi Island land shares, and the problems caused by complex property rights keep emerging on Shezi Island, and will lead to frequent lawsuits as the development plan advances.

Village chief's view: Most development supporters are outside investors, while local residents mostly hold fast to their homes

According to Hsieh Wen-chia's estimate, of the more than 4,000 households currently on Shezi Island, over 1,000 are households with a house but no land. Together with 396 low-income households, they will lose their homes during the section-wise expropriation process. Even if they are fortunate enough to obtain a resettlement housing unit, plus full financing from the government, they still must carry about 10 million in mortgage debt. For many residents barely making ends meet, this is an unimaginable burden.

As an elected village chief, Hsieh Wen-chia repeatedly demanded at development plan meetings: "The resettlement of existing disadvantaged residents must be resolved before development can proceed." He also pointed out the greatest conflict between the two sides: "Most of the promotion association are outside investors or landowners, while the self-rescue association actually consists mostly of local residents."

On one side are investors, on the other are residents who live together day in and day out. "Development should take care of the people who actually live here, not bail out investors. As village chief, of course I must look after the most disadvantaged people in the village," he said.

This case has repeatedly been blocked, and the discontent of residents hoping to accelerate development accumulated to the breaking point, prompting them to launch a recall of Village Chief Hsieh Wen-chia. However, many fellow villagers opposed to development also came to the service office to offer concern and encouragement. "Facing the demolition crisis, in the past I had to comfort the villagers; now everyone has come to comfort me." Village Chief Hsieh felt both bitter and sweet, and rarely spoke so emotionally.

Recall initiator: Shezi Island does not even have a single convenience store; raise the standard of living, and residents will move back

The initiator of the signature drive to recall Village Chief Hsieh Wen-chia, 44-year-old Shezi Island resident Chen Cheng-yung, named him directly: "The Shezi Island development plan is stalled, and he (Hsieh Wen-chia) must bear considerable responsibility."

"Older people tend to prefer staying on Shezi Island. Many people are forced to move away for the convenience of their children's schooling and daily life. For the sake of the next generation, we must strive for development, lest we miss this chance and wait another 50 years. Only after development will the standard of living improve," he stressed. "Go look, Shezi Island does not even have a single convenience store."

Will section-wise expropriation cause disadvantaged households to be displaced? Chen Cheng-yung believes, "The government has a resettlement plan. Those who are not eligible to purchase resettlement housing also have rental allocation conditions. Saying that expropriation will drive people out of Shezi Island is not true. Moreover, the resettlement housing allocated by the city government is all in the same building, so the community is not scattered at all."

What's more, "The purchase price is only 200,000 per ping, a full half cheaper than market price, and full financing is available. If you don't want to bear a 10 million mortgage, you can still profit by reselling the resettlement housing after receiving it." For the younger generation of homebuyers, through section-wise expropriation they can not only receive compensation but also buy a home in Taipei City at nearly half the market price. From a practical standpoint, it is not necessarily a bad deal.

Development faction: The problem of a 50-year construction ban can only be solved once and for all through section-wise expropriation

To advance the development plan, Yang Ming-chao, chairman of the "Shezi Island Residents' Rights Promotion Association," has clashed verbally with opponents many times at meetings. He believes, "The village chief should find ways to help residents learn how to fight for their rights in the development plan, rather than blindly resisting or even leading disruptions." He explained his reason for supporting the recall of Hsieh Wen-chia.

Yang Ming-chao is himself a practicing land registration agent and once served as a village chief, so he understands Shezi Island's complex property rights very well. He advocates that Shezi Island's chaotic and deformed development can only be improved, and its land property rights disputes resolved once and for all, by expropriating the entire area, leveling it, and re-planning and redeveloping it.

"Even if Shezi Island has disadvantaged people, the longer it drags on, the more problems there will be." He believes that by the end of the development plan, residents will always have to calculate carefully to protect their own interests. "A purchase price of 10 million per household is indeed a burden for an ordinary family, but the government provides full low-interest financing. Living there is beneficial, and selling it is also beneficial."

"Only those with a house can be allocated a house, and only those with land can be allocated land, but some people on Shezi Island do not even have house ownership, which creates the current problem." Yang Ming-chao believes that many of these people who have no land and no property rights but claim residency rights are people who cannot leave Shezi Island or do not want to change the status quo, and they should not block Shezi Island's path to progress.

"Disadvantaged, disadvantaged, it sounds reasonable, but should Shezi Island stay like this forever? Shezi Island residents are also Taipei City residents. Having to take in all these illegal structures, disadvantaged people, and low-income households is not fair." Yang Ming-chao believes that if development is opposed for the sake of only a small number of people, then there would be only housing justice for the disadvantaged, which would in effect punish landowners. Moreover, after Shezi Island is developed, land values will rise and job opportunities will increase, which actually benefits economically disadvantaged residents rather than driving them out.

Self-rescue association: After half a century of construction restrictions, the city government should improve the environment, so why has it become oppression of the people?

Shezi Island residents once thought the city government's plan was to improve the living environment of Shezi Island, but unexpectedly the plan adopted "section-wise expropriation" to redevelop Shezi Island by "leveling the entire area." Those without land property rights or unable to afford resettlement housing loans would be forced to leave. As a result, most residents turned against the city government's current plan, advocating the preservation of the existing settlement fabric and community neighborly relations, and developing Shezi Island while maintaining the existing nine major settlement living circles.

"Even with allocated resettlement housing, there have been at least a dozen cases of brothers and relatives suing each other over expropriation compensation and resettlement housing. Who caused these divisions and confrontations? The Taipei City Government's development plan." Self-rescue association spokesperson Li Hua-ping said angrily.