Building Height Changes in City Centre

Are you concerned about the heights of some of the new infill homes built in the established communities? Some of these homes are built to the maximum building heights and appear out of touch with the street scape. I love modern design but there is a point that design includes being sensitive to the neighbourhood. Modern design can fit well with established communities but some recent examples are reasons to be concerned. There are methods to deal with height so homes are not as imposing on the street or on their neighbours. Setbacks and other design tools can be used to visually reduce the building height. Where were the checks and balances with the development of these houses?

Did you know that the building height maximum is being reviewed in the established areas like North River Heights and Crescentwood? The City Centre Community Committee is looking into a recommendation of decreasing the overall building height in these established neighborhoods from the current 35 feet. I think that the overall height should remain as it is but the City Planning department should be a little more critical on the impact of what they approve.

Maybe there should be a neighbourhood community association/planning group that reviews the plans? They may bring up issues like overlooking concerns, shadow issues, building height and massing concerns.

What do you think?