Quote:
Originally Posted by IanWatson
I'm curious to see how this one goes. The DRC could give variations for the balcony railing material and the penthouse setbacks, and I imagine they will (the developer would have likely been approved for those variations if they'd asked for them in the first place). The DRC could also give a variation for the penthouse cladding, but staff is recommending against it. This would mean Westwood would have to go back and reclad the penthouse in glass.
What I'm not sure will happen is in relation to the stuff the DRC can't vary, and that can't easily be changed. The biggest one is the the streetwall height, which is 0.7m too high. DRC is not permitted to vary it, and it's not like it's really physically feasible to go back and knock 0.7 metres off the building. So I'm not sure of the mechanism for punishing Westwood in that situation. A big fine?
|
I think a very big fine. Obviously it doesn't really matter, in the big scheme of things, that the building is 70 centimetres too tall. But a line has to be drawn somewhere, and it's the principal of it. As for the things that can be changed, I think it makes sense to levy a small fine, and permit a window of time to fix them. Non-compliance within the permitted time frame will result in another, much bigger fine.
I take it that the city has no firm process for this kind of thing, eh?