Nippon TV! Why Local Residents Waited for the Nibancho Skyscraper Project

Chiyoda Ward backs Nippon TV’s plan for redevelopment

NTV’s plan to build a high-rise building on the site of its former headquarters in Nibancho, Chiyoda Ward, is facing a number of local objections. Chiyoda Ward attempted to ease the height limit for the building from 60 meters to 90 meters, but a meeting of the ward’s urban planning council on March 30 raised a series of objections, and the council decided not to vote on the matter.

Sumiko Koeda, a ward assembly member and a member of the council, believes that “the proponents wanted a decision by the end of the last fiscal year.

According to Ms. Koeda, at the meeting, a number of issues were pointed out, including the rationale for relaxing height restrictions on buildings and why residents had not yet reached a consensus. For the time being, the council decided to have academic experts and others discuss the issues by July.

So far, the redevelopment plan, which includes relaxing the height limit of buildings to 90 meters, has been promoted by the district in support of Nippon TV’s proposal. The local shopping district of Nibancho and other areas, which is enriched with people related to Nippon TV and its affiliated companies, had been seen as welcoming the Nittele proposal. However, in mid-March, Yoshito Hori, president of the local GLOBIS Graduate School of Management, challenged the decision-making process of the town council and filed a lawsuit in the Tokyo District Court seeking a judicial decision.

Local residents overwhelmingly voted against the plan…

In March, the ward solicited 275 of the residents living alongside Nippon TV in favor of the plan, while 658 were opposed, including residents of I- to Roku-bancho and Kojimachi 3 and 4-chome. Furthermore, residents of Nibancho were overwhelmingly opposed to the project, with 64 in favor and 90 opposed.

However, when the scope was expanded to include commuters, the number of votes in favor was 2,872, far exceeding the 1,088 votes against. As an interested party, Koeda argues, “If people who want to develop the area are submitting opinions, then the opinions of non-residents should be written separately. Moreover, the details of what kind of people, other than residents, are voting in favor of the project are unclear.

What’s the problem…

In the first place, the controversy makes it difficult to understand what the point of the plan is. For the local “business community,” the construction of a high-rise building by Nippon TV is expected to bring in a lot of business. On the other hand, the “local residents” will lose their sky by relaxing the height limit by 1.5 times.

The district is supposed to be in a position to take into account the opinions of both parties and encourage consensus building, but the inclusion of “solving local issues” in the plan makes it seem as if the district is also pushing forward with the development plan.

The “local issues” include the need to make the area barrier-free, secure a plaza, and expand the sidewalks, since there are only stairs from the subway to the ground level in this area.

The “Bancho Townscape Preservation Association,” organized by local residents, insists that the height limit of 60 meters be observed. The difference between a building 90 meters high and a building 60 meters high is the difference between 2,500 square meters and 2,200 square meters of open space that can be secured, but the group claims that even if the space is slightly smaller, it will still be sufficient.

Nippon TV’s side of the story

Last November, the ward held an explanatory meeting for landowners regarding changes to the district plan for Nibancho. Nippon TV and the ward explained in detail in response to questions regarding the issue of relaxing height restrictions.

According to the minutes of that meeting, Nippon TV claimed that “the height of 90 meters is to strike a balance in order to conduct economic activities as a company. With regard to the balance between community contribution and business nature, he explained, “We are not volunteers, so we need to provide an explanation of business security that can be explained to our shareholders.

He then claims that “honestly, when considering solutions to local issues, 50 or 60 meters is difficult,” but even at 60 meters, “we believe that an elevator installed in a normal building can be done,” and it appears that 60 meters will not be a problem to solve barrier-free access. It is believed that 60 meters will not be a problem to solve the barrier-free access. On the other hand, regarding the building setback, the company explains that in the 60-meter case, “the building will be built with a 4-meter setback from Nippon TV Street, similar to the old Nippon TV Street.

Chiyoda Ward’s Position

Chiyoda Ward explained, “We are solving issues with private facilities and positioning them as public facilities, so we are guiding the system to relax the floor area, etc. In light of the operational standards, it asserts that the “floor area ratio of 700%” of the Nippon TV proposal is appropriate, and that “the relationship between the floor area ratio of 700% and the floor area ratio of 90 meters. In other words, the floor-area ratio in accordance with the operational standards also leads to a reasonable height of 90 meters.

A representative of the ward’s community development division emphasizes, “The planned site falls within the metropolitan government’s redevelopment promotion zone, which has an operational standard of 770% floor-area ratio. The official simply states, “It is a close contest,” in response to the fact that several residents have expressed their opposition to the project, which has outnumbered the opposition, and it appears that the city is pushing to secure the floor-area ratio in accordance with the operational standard rather than listening to the residents’ voices as well.

To “solve local issues…”

The story seems to be getting more complicated, but in the end, the point is how much of the plaza that can be secured is good enough, and whether the sidewalks on Nippon TV Avenue can remain as they have been in the past. In other words, should the height of the building be 90 meters, as in the Nippon TV proposal, and should the sidewalks and other public space be expanded, or should the height limit of 60 meters be maintained and a moderate amount of space be acceptable, as the association for the preservation of the area claims?

This is exactly the kind of issue that should be decided by the local residents. However, the district seems to be trying to promote the plan by lumping all the issues together as “solving local problems” and trying to keep the issue of relaxing the height limit out of sight.

At the March 30 council meeting, a committee member who specializes in urban planning said that Chiyoda Ward may not be able to hold out if the plan goes ahead and is sued. With this comment, Council Member Koeda, including the proponents, felt that “the atmosphere of the Council had changed.

Mr. Koeda pointed out that there were several areas in which the way the ward proceeded with the deliberations did not conform to the procedures stipulated by the City Planning Law. He believes that there may be a problem in terms of compliance with laws and regulations.

Chiyoda Ward is now in the mode of ward assembly election to be held on April 23. The committee is planning to release the results of its survey of ward council candidates and make the approval or disapproval of the plan one of the issues in the ward council election, and will keep a close eye on what the academic experts and others have to say to the council by July.