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An artist's impression of Spencer Street tower.
Developers are hiring top architects to win tricky high-rise permits, then dumping the architect and watering down their approved designs to save money, it has been claimed.
Gardens are being scrapped, extra apartments squeezed in, cheaper material used and decorative elements cast aside, city planners say.
They say this cost cutting occurs most commonly when property developers pay an inflated price for a block of land because it already has a high-rise planning permit attached.
By paying a premium price for the property, the new owners are forced to find savings elsewhere.
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"Maybe the real estate agent says to them; 'You buy this at this price, there is a good chance you will be able to add 20 storeys on top' [to the existing planning permit]," council's planning chairman Ken Ong said.
"There are buyers out there who don't understand the planning system who believe that."
A number of Melbourne councils are now making it a condition of some high-rise permits for the original architect to be kept on during construction, after becoming frustrated when hard-earned plans were tampered with later by a building or drafting company.
Adopting the new policy, Melbourne City Council recently asked the new planning minister, Richard Wynne, to make it a condition forElenberg Fraser to be kept on as the architect of an 89-storeyhotel and apartment mega-tower proposed for Spencer Street.
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Architects dumped from apartment blocks to save money
With more than half of Vita Serena demolished, an attorney for the landmarked homes owners will request variances from the Town Council on Wednesday that would move reconstruction forward.
Removal of weak roof sections led to the collapse of the homes western wall in July. In September, the contractor working on the restoration project demolished the center, eastern portion of the Palladian-style home. Thats when the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved additional demolition because of structural problems caused by wood rot and termites.
Attorney Maura Ziska will ask the council for variances that would allow the home, at 105 Clarendon Ave., to be reconstructed to its original dimensions. Architect Marion Sims Wyeth designed Vita Serena in 1926.
When more than half of an existing homes material is removed, property owners have to follow current zoning codes related to height, property setbacks and other factors.
Todays building code requires the building be set back a minimum of 30 feet from the western property line. Ziska is asking to reduce that to 2.2 feet-13 feet. She also wants permission to install a sloped roof instead of a flat roof, to reduce another setback from a minimum of 35 feet to 19.8-29.4 feet and to build to a height of 26 feet instead of 25 feet.
In November, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted 5-2 to advise the council that approving the variances would not negatively impact the architecture of the landmark.
The commission approved the restoration and expansion project in late 2013. Progress has been bumpy, largely because of the condition of the 88-year-old structure.
In July, building officials visited the site after the homes primary western wall collapsed. Removing the second-floor roof, which had been approved, precipitated the collapse.
On Sept. 4, the town ordered work to stop after learning the 20-foot, easternmost block of the house had been demolished two days earlier without permission. On Sept. 17, the Landmarks board voted 6-1 to approve that demolition and the demolition of the rest of Vita Serena. Chairman William Cooley dissented.
At that meeting, structural engineer Albert Gargiulo detailed and showed evidence of extensive wood rot and termite damage.
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Owners seek construction variances for Vita Serena
LANSING, Mich. The Michigan House of Representatives has approved a state version of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) despiteopposition from those who claim that the bill will give license to people of faith to discriminate.
HB 5958cleared the House Judiciary Committee 7-4 on Thursday, and then moved on to the full House, where it also passed 59-50. It now moves to the Senate for consideration, and if passed, will then be sent to the desk of Gov. Rick Snyder (R).
The bill essentially mirrors the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which was signed into law in 1993 by then-President Bill Clinton, However, as the law only applies on a federal level, the U.S. Supreme Court has urged states to enact their own RFRA to protect citizens.
The free exercise of religion is an inherent, fundamental,and unalienable right secured by Article 1 of the state Constitution of 1963 and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, the proposed statute reads.
Itthen uses federal legal standards to mandate that laws cannot be used to substantially burden the religious beliefs of inhabitants, unless the law serves a compelling government interest and is only uses the least restrictive means to further that specific interest. The proposal also allows those who believe that a law violates their religious liberty to bring a legal challenge against it, such as did companies like Hobby Lobby.
I support individual liberty and I support religious freedom, House Speaker Jase Bolger (R) declared Thursday to the Judiciary Committee. I have been horrified as some have claimed that a persons faith should only be practiced while hiding in their home or in their church.
But Bolger has faced opposition from those who state that the billpromotes discrimination. Democratic members who spoke against the RFRA specifically cited their disagreement with allowing businesses to declinehomosexuals should their requestviolate the conscience of the owner, or allowing pharmacies to refuse to dispense abortifacients due to their religious beliefs.
This bill moves us in a new and uncharted direction. It requires me and others to practice the faith of our employers, grocers and pharmacists, Rep. Vicki Barnett (D-Farmington Hills) told those gathered. I should not be forced to follow the religion of my pharmacist.
But Bolger said that the bill is not new at all, since it is only modeled after federal law to also ensure protections on a state level.
Do you think that Bill Clinton and Ted Kennedy were extremists? he told MSNBC. We modeled [this bill] directly after what they did. Im baffled to hear that what were doing is out of line.
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Michigan House Approves Religious Freedom Restoration Act Despite Opposition
Premier Colin Barnett has confirmed Finance Minister Dean Nalder will remain on the front bench despite conflict of interest claims against him.
Mr Nalder came under fire in recent days for both his failure to disclose an investment in the company Metier Asia and conflict of interest claims related to a car leasing company in which he has an interest.
He has also been questioned over a meeting with the Chinese consul-general in Perth, which was attended by the chief executive of Metier Asia, Darryll Ashworth.
Mr Barnett is due to announce a minor Cabinet reshuffle and a replacement for outgoing Sports Minister Terry Waldron.
While he has not disclosed many details of the changes, Mr Barnett has confirmed there will only be one incoming minister, meaning Mr Nalder will stay in Cabinet.
It is not known if Mr Nalder will retain the finance portfolio.
Mr Barnett said he had carefully examined Mr Nalder's assets and investments.
"He was a prominent and successful business person so he brings that with him," he said.
"But he has not sought to get personal gain from his position as a minister.
"[Regarding] some of the attempts to draw his involvement into companies owned by relatives, I mean that is not a conflict of interest, that is beyond any definition of conflict of interest."
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Barnett confirms Nalder will remain in Cabinet despite conflict of interest claims
Premier Colin Barnett and Tuck Waldren with the first concrete pile to be driven in the new sports stadium. Picture: Steve Ferrier/The West Austrlian
Beleaguered Minister Dean Nalder looks set to remain in Cabinet after Premier Colin Barnett this afternoon revealed a reshuffle of the ministry would include no new Liberals.
Mr Barnett made the remark at the final press conference of Sports Minister Terry Waldron, whose retirement from Cabinet is triggering the reshuffle.
The pair kicked off the construction phase of the Burswood stadium by driving into prepared earth the first of 2000 piles which will support the 60,000 structure.
There was speculation Mr Barnett would dump Mr Nalder from the ministry after a torrid week in which the Premier admitted the rookie Transport and Finance Minister had mixed up his ministerial role with his business interests.
But Mr Barnett revealed the only new face in the Cabinet would be Mr Waldrons replacement widely expected to be Nationals MLC Colin Holt.
Ive kept (the reshuffle) to a minimum but nevertheless you do get a ripple effect when a minister leaves so it does affect a number of ministers, he said.
Mr Barnett shrugged off claims by shadow transport minister Ken Travers earlier today that only an ejection from Cabinet would be an acceptable punishment for Mr Nalder.
Mr Nalder has been under the spotlight amid revelations he was the part owner of a car-leasing company targeting public servants through salary sacrificing deals while overseeing the State fleet as Finance Minister.
His acquisition of a $400,000 stake in a property company Metier Asia Pty Ltd and abandoned plans in July to travel to China with a co-investing ministerial staffer to observe some of its activities has also not gone down well among Liberals.
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Work begins at new stadium
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