Reykjavíkurborg (City of Reykjavík) says that human error caused the harsh opinion of a planning officer about a warehouse in Álfabakki to be included with the handling of the case.
Reykjavíkurborg (City of Reykjavík) says that human error led to a document with a harsh opinion from the planning officer being attached to the final version of the planning officer’s minutes concerning the warehouse at Álfabakki in Reykjavík.
This appears in the city’s responses to the inquiry of the umboðsmaður Alþingis (Ombudsman of Alþingi [Parliament]).
He had asked how it came about that the minutes of the planning officer’s decision meeting were removed from the website and later republished in an altered form.
Negative opinions of the planning officer about the works had then been removed, but they had included the view that the building was ugly and that stricter requirements for the appearance of buildings should be enshrined in Icelandic legislation.
From the opinion as it first appeared on the city’s website:
The legislator asks neither about aesthetics nor context. It is therefore a sad fact that those who wield power, money and extensive operations do not show greater ambition in the development of central areas of the capital area. Aesthetics is not taste – aesthetics is context – and this building lacks such.
The umboðsmaður Alþingis (Ombudsman of Alþingi [Parliament]) had requested an answer from the city as to whether the opinion had been changed, what changes were made and whether this was common practice at the city. The reason for the inquiry was Morgunblaðið (Morgunblaðið newspaper) coverage from May.
Heiða Björg Hilmisdóttir, capital mayor, said in an interview with Morgunblaðið on that occasion that the opinion had been changed because the earlier one was not considered substantive.
In the city’s reply it is stated, however, that the later version is the correct one; the earlier one was only a draft.
Human error had caused the draft to be filed under the agenda item in the city’s document system and thus ended up on the website. Thus the opinion was not actually changed after the meeting.
Source: Ruv.is
