庁舎移転問う住民投票、反対多数で異例の白紙に　垂水市

A referendum asking about the relocation of the government building, an exceptionally large number of opposition blank papers Tarumi City

On the 9th, in Tarumi City, Kagoshima Prefecture, there was a referendum asking whether to approve the government office relocation plan due to aging, and opposition to the plan exceeded support. Mayor Owaki announced at a press conference on the same night that he would "blank the plan according to the citizens' judgment." It is unusual for a government office relocation plan to be canceled by a referendum. Voter turnout is 68.83% (12,456 voters on the day). The voting results were 4080 votes in favor and 4424 votes in opposition, and the opposition exceeded the agreement by 344 votes.

Regarding the relocation of the city hall, the city planned to construct a new four-storied government office building in a landfill along the sea, as the current government building more than 60 years ago did not meet the current earthquake resistance standards. The project cost is about 4.3 billion yen. On the other hand, several resident groups opposed the need for reconstruction, but opposed to disaster prevention issues such as weakness of the ground at the planned site and fear of inundation damage, and that the scale and budget were too large.

Initially, the city, who said that it could “respond sufficiently to disasters” by ground improvement etc., was negative in the referendum, but decided to implement it as a breakthrough measure to push forward the plan while the opposition persisted. Mayor Owaki said, "I am very sorry, but it is difficult to construct a new government building for the time being, and I will consider strengthening the safety of the current government building." Muneyuki Shindo, Professor Emeritus of Chiba University (administrative science) who is familiar with decentralization, said, "The referendum on the issue of relocating government buildings is rare in the whole country. You can evaluate your posture."

Source: https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/fe54ce2ff252136f47a49871624657b3610635ad