National Regional Plan Amendment Public Hearings to Be Held in Each District from December 4 to 16
After several amendment meetings this year, the National Land Use Plan will hold its first public hearing for the northern region on 12/4 at the Construction and Planning Agency. In addition, four more public hearings will be held later in December, for the east (12/5), south (12/9), north (12/10) and central (12/16) regions. Past meeting minutes, as well as the detailed time, place, agenda, briefing and past responses to comments for this public hearing, can all be found on the "National Land Use Plan Section" set up by the Construction and Planning Agency (or just Google "National Land Use Plan Section"). For the full text of the main subject this time, please click "Draft Amendment to the National Land Use Plan" to download, or find it under "II. Plan Document" in the "National Land Use Plan Section".
At present the Spatial Planning Act (hereafter "Spatial Planning Law") is still dormant. Before the Spatial Planning Law is passed, the National Land Use Plan will be the highest-level legal source for land use, governing urban planning, agriculture, forestry, fishery and animal husbandry, and environmental conservation, among other land uses. However, although this amendment was made in response to the major disaster caused by Typhoon Morakot, it has the appearance of opening a back door; for example, the definition of protected areas has been changed to "Level 1 and Level 2 environmentally sensitive areas", and the land use principle for Level 1 environmentally sensitive areas states: "In this area, apart from public facilities or public utilities, development for non-conservation purposes and any development behavior should be avoided." The devil is hidden in "public facilities", "public utilities" and "should".
The election is over, but civic participation does not take a holiday. Without relevant professional knowledge, plowing through the bill is truly dull and arduous; forming a "reading group" with a few friends to chew through the bill is also a way to drag the devil out. All the public hearing sessions are held during ordinary working hours, which seems to be unfriendly to the public and technically a way to avoid civic participation. That said, even if you are unfamiliar with the content of the bill, merely attending in person will put pressure on the officials and scholars present; "someone is paying attention, someone is watching" is a monitoring force not to be underestimated. In addition, after the public hearing ends, written comments can also be submitted.
Attached below is the public hearing schedule excerpted from the Construction and Planning Agency's "National Land Use Plan Section":
| December 4, 2014 (ROC year 103) (Thursday) 10:00 a.m. sharp | National Land Use Plan Public Hearing (Northern Region) | 5th Floor Auditorium, Construction and Planning Agency, Ministry of the Interior (5F, No. 342, Section 2, Bade Road, Taipei City) |  Agenda Meeting Notice National Land Use Plan Draft Amendment (Draft) Briefing |
| December 5, 2014 (ROC year 103) (Friday) 10:00 a.m. sharp | National Land Use Plan Public Hearing (Eastern Region) | 1st Floor Auditorium, Hualien County Government (1F, No. 17, Fuqian Road, Hualien City) | Agenda Meeting Notice National Land Use Plan Draft Amendment (Draft) Briefing |
| December 9, 2014 (ROC year 103) (Tuesday) 10:00 a.m. sharp | National Land Use Plan Public Hearing (Southern Region) | 3rd Conference Room, Tainan City Workers' Recreation Center (No. 261, Nanmen Road, Tainan City) | Agenda Meeting Notice National Land Use Plan Draft Amendment (Draft) Briefing |
| December 10, 2014 (ROC year 103) (Wednesday) 10:00 a.m. sharp | National Land Use Plan Public Hearing (Northern Region) | 5th Floor Auditorium, Construction and Planning Agency, Ministry of the Interior (5F, No. 342, Section 2, Bade Road, Taipei City) | Agenda Meeting Notice National Land Use Plan Draft Amendment (Draft) Briefing |
| December 16, 2014 (ROC year 103) (Tuesday) 10:00 a.m. sharp | National Land Use Plan Public Hearing (Central Region) | Taichung City Workers' Service Center 3F Multipurpose Activity Center (No. 362-1, Renhe Road, East District, Taichung City) | Agenda Meeting Notice National Land Use Plan Draft Amendment (Draft) Briefing |