Why HK Government Request to Allow the Use of HKDL Second Park Land for Housing Will Be a No-No for Disney

If you follow D&M Facebook page you may have read that "Hong Kong Disneyland urged to allow site earmarked for second theme park expansion to be used for transitional housing". As explained in this South China Morning Post article "Hong Kong city’s housing minister has urged Hong Kong Disneyland to give up the land reserved for the theme park’s future expansion to unlock land for transitional homes – a complete U-turn on the government policy of not allowing residential use there.

Chan said on Monday that he hoped Hong Kong Disneyland would show social responsibility “We have a contract with Disney that the piece of land will be specially reserved for future extension of the theme park, and should not be used for residential use,” Chan told legislators at a housing panel meeting. “But we hope Disneyland can consider its social responsibility and allow an exemption, so that the site can be used for transitional housing, until it has some long-term uses.”

The land is located "to the east of HKDL on Lantau Island and measures 60 hectares and was reserved for a possible second-phase development of Disneyland under a 2000 deal. Some short-term use of the site was allowed until more long-term plans were worked out. There have long been calls to use the land for housing." By some estimates, it is enough space for 20,000 flats able to house 80,000 people.

The reason why HK Government want the land is because "unaffordable property prices in Asia’s financial hub have been identified by Beijing and local authorities as a cause of social anger as the city grapples with months-long pro-democracy protests. The public housing waiting list now averages 5.4 years for the 149,500 or so applications submitted. Authorities are under intense pressure to identify land for new housing estates, but have been criticised for not moving quickly enough".

So, on the insistence of lawmakers, "Secretary for Transport and Housing Frank Chan Fan has urged Disneyland to consider its social responsibility and give up the site for transitional residential use, despite a government agreement on the land being used for phase two expansion. The contract, with a 20-year option to purchase the land, renewable for two five-year periods, specifically says that until a decision has been made, it can only be used short term for sport, cultural and recreational activities and the like. A lack of road, water and electricity infrastructure has also limited its use."

No need to say that Disney is most probably extremely embarassed by the request and here is why. Have a look at the picture below showing the aerial shot of HKDL 2nd park land, empty for now. I've indicated where is what for those of you who are not familiar with HKDL.



Now, as said above the land "has enough space for 20,000 flats able to house 80,000 people". Even is the land is big, you won't put 80,000 people on this land in low-rise buildings and it will request to build high-rise towers, like they build everywhere in Hong Kong. Then, all these people will need shops where yo buy food, all kind of facilities, eventually a school for their children, etc... I mean, 80,000 people  is really a lot of people, even by China's standards. In France it would be considered as already a big medium size town.

But there is worse as, as you've seen in the picture above the land for the second park is located right in front of the entrance of the current park, like Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, with eventually a bit more space between both parks. Now, think how it will look with high-rise buildings built on that empty land. To help you i've been on Google to find a picture of Hong Kong buildings shot more or less from the same angle and paste them on the picture showing the empty land. It's quickly done with Photoshop and i'm pretty sure that the proportions are not perfect, but you'll get the idea.



Now, do you see where the problem is? Even if we don't talk about the logistic of having 80,000 people living next door to the park, the high-rise buildings would mean a HUGE visual intrusion problem, so big that there will be no way that HKDL Imagineers could succeed to hide it, thus destroying the immersive feeling and magic of the park. And that's why Disney can't accept HK Government request to give the land for "transitional housing", and why it will be a no-no.

For more details, make sure to read the South China Morning Post articles HERE and HERE.

Important Editing: D&M reader Allan let us know about a previous SCMP article, saying that the “transitional housing” could be made of prefabricated modular housing assembled and stacked on site, and could be limited to three stories high, which at least could resolve the problem of visual intrusion that will be impossible to avoid with high-rise buidings:

"Construction of Hong Kong’s first social housing development would be made from prefabricated units and could be completed quickly under a government-backed pilot project for the needy. Unlike traditional methods of construction, prefabricated modular housing is built and completed off site, then delivered to the location to be assembled and stacked. Such structures could be limited to three stories to avoid complicated and stringent design requirements, a source said.



Some 80 to 90 prefabricated modular housing units could provide temporary homes for the city’s less fortunate. By using some modular units, and putting them together like Lego, they can build the houses in a relatively short period of time."

You can read the full SCMP article HERE.

Original Picture: copyright May Tse