The tale of Wayne and his legal action against the City of Burnaby brought out a huge response from readers.
This includes people arguing about what a view is worth, plus some homeowners saying the same thing happened to them.
Wayne, who lives on Capitol Hill, is suing the city for $1 million because he says the city miscalculated the setback figures and shouldn’t have approved it. The dollar figure stems from the damages he feels he’s suffered at the loss of a killer view.
Another Burnaby homeowner sent in the photos above saying the same thing about the loss of the view. You can tell the huge difference in the photos from before and after.
“The house has since been completed and on the market for over a year and a half,” the homeowner wrote. “It is currently rented but you can see what we lost. Our view was taken away in a matter of months. It breaks our hearts to see the 'vision of Burnaby' taken away by Burnaby itself by allowing such builds to occur.”
As for Wayne, I asked people if you could put such a large price tag on a view. Many people responded.
“I'm afraid I'll have to agree with him - he should be compensated, and here's why,” wrote Mannie. “The value of his home has just dropped, yet, as is happening where I live in, structures and growing trees are and will be blocking views, yet the property taxes keep going up. There are hundreds of cases in where homeowners have petitioned City Hall to let them beautifully trim trees, and they're not allowed, even though the homeowner has agreed to pay for it. The situation is totally out of control. It will be interesting to see how this turns out. If this homeowner wins, all hell is going to break loose, and municipalities will have to smarten up.”
I’m not sure about that. The case isn’t about the view, only the compensation figure is. What Wayne claims is that the city erred in its calculations in regards to how far back from the road the house was built.
If he wins, what would be interesting is how compensation is calculated.
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
