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EDITORIAL: Eve of demolition

There is a home that exists inside West Vancouver but outside its laws. Over nearly four years the owners of a house on 20th Street have sidestepped bylaws, overstepped permits and regarded stop work orders like bugs on their windshield.

There is a home that exists inside West Vancouver but outside its laws. Over nearly four years the owners of a house on 20th Street have sidestepped bylaws, overstepped permits and regarded stop work orders like bugs on their windshield.

Faced with this contempt for rules, West Vancouver council finds themselves on the razor’s (or shall we say razer’s?) edge of a dilemma. Do they address this non-conforming, non-permitted, unsafe structure with a wrecking ball or a blind eye?

If we were to survey the homes of West Vancouver we would surely find a plethora of instances where houses diverge from plans, where rooftops are higher than they were supposed to be and basements not as deep as promised.

But amid those sleight of handyman shenanigans there is ordinarily some understanding that each home is part of a larger community bound by rules.

Those rules affect our quality of life, of course, but they also affect something much more tangible: resale value.

West Vancouver homes sell for astronomical prices – sometimes because of what they are but just as often because of where. Without enforceable rules of law that ensure a level of quality in construction and respect for neighbours, West Vancouver is jeopardized.

Over the years we’ve seen much less offensive structures crop up around the North Shore – a shack near Mosquito Creek, a cabin in the Mount Seymour forest  – and in each case the rights of the individual were subordinated to the safety of the community.

Demolition amounts to council’s version of capital punishment. It should be used sparingly. It should be used as a last resort. But if council is forced to choose between its people and its homes, we favour the death penalty.

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