This week, national attention was drawn to the city council asking Mosgiel woman Janice Norman-Oke to tear down a tree house on her property, saying it breached the Building Act.
She called the action "ridiculous".
Yesterday the council announced Cr Mike Lord had mustered friends from the Rotary Club of Mosgiel and together with the family would rebuild the tree house.
Council staff would ensure the rebuilt structure met building regulations.
An anonymous donor offered to pay for extra building materials if needed.
Ms Norman-Oke said she was "very happy" about the decision.
"I'm very grateful for the assistance. I'm very grateful I'm going to have a compliant tree house."
Work was scheduled to start next week.
It would begin with the club discussing the form the work would take, she said.
"We've pretty much been told it'll be the same except it's going to be a little bit lower so it fits with the building code."
The platform of the structure is 2.9m, but railings pushed it over the 3m limit.
The structure was brought to the council's attention by neighbours concerned about their privacy.
Ms Norman-Oke said she doubted relations would get better with those neighbours "because they're not getting what they wanted".
The tree house would still be there.
"I want neighbourhood relations to go back the way they were. I'll be very happy to be out of the spotlight."
Cr Lord said he understood public reaction against the council but said staff had no discretion on the issue as an independently accredited building control authority.
Councils did not make building law and staff had no ability to turn a blind eye to structures that did not meet legal requirements, he said.
"This put them in a horrible position, and I am glad that together we have been able to sort it."
The tree house was built three months ago by Ms Norman-Oke's father, Trevor Oke, for her children, Ethan (12), Devon (10) and Logan (6).
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Comments
The council has done it for one now they will have to do it for all, Silly silly council, I guess the rates increase will now be justified or it will justify another increase
The Council is doing nothing more than signing off the work of others as compliant (Mike Lord and his rotary mates), same as any other building job.
The council is not fixing the tree house, so no precedent set.
I’m sure Cr Lord’s heart is in the right place and this is not an early election stunt but this is a can of worms regarding principles and precedents.
First, how can a regulatory authority reward non-compliance? They certainly are not going to do it in every case, so why should they do it in one?
Second, a public authority should be neutral and take care to be seen to be neutral in any dispute between neighbours.
Third, DCC ‘signing off’ a tree-house may imply safety liability.
Last (and worst), governance management separation of our system of local government by law means that elected reps should not involve themselves in staff matters, especially not regulatory ones which are semi-judicial. Elected reps have decision-making powers only collectively. This protects people against ‘string-pulling’ and ‘friends at court’ type corruption or just confusing interference and makes it crystal-clear for council employees whose instructions they are to follow, namely solely the CE’s. Not all present elected reps may agree with Cr Lord’s approach but they are never going to get a chance to comment because it seems a done-deal outside the council meeting structure.