The municipality of Amstelveen was not allowed to impose a sanctionable order to paint the facade of a house Westwijk blue. The court ruled that last week.
The villa was already light blue in 1994 and there was a permit for it. This color has faded and gotten lighter over the years. Residents painted the front of the house blue again in 2019. As it relates to the so-called “tense boom area”, the municipality didn’t have to deal with it. However, there is an exception for “prosperity excesses”.
Contrary to reasonable demands
Many locals found the new blue “stunning and cheerful.” They complained to the municipality, which sent an outlet. The enforcer found the color so unusual that the municipality attempted to force residents to remove the blue by means of a so-called penalty order. According to the city council, it was a color that “seriously goes against the requirements of reasonable prosperity.”
The inhabitants of the villa differed. They eventually went to court. During the suit, Amstelveen City Council announced that a city engineer had examined the house and, after comparing a colored fan, concluded that the color resembled the so-called RAL 5015 code. This color can be seen below. According to the municipality, it is not a light blue.
The residents of the villa do not recognize themselves in the description of the color. they think so The new color falls somewhere between RAL code 5012 and RAL code 5015, but is closer to a lighter blue.
In its ruling, the court wrote that the homes in the area are white to light sandy colour. The blue villa breaks that unit. However, this does not matter because it is a “thriving” neighborhood. The fact that locals chose from a range of light sandy colors does not mean that the choice deviates from that palette is outrageous. This is also evidenced by the fact that, according to the municipality, the use of light blue was still allowed in 1994.
The court also found that the municipality had not made it sufficiently clear that the new color was not really light blue. For example, the municipality was based in part on a report by the Dutch Colour Institute Foundation. But that institution wrote in that report that no conclusions were drawn because the site visit was necessary. The establishment has never looked at the villa itself.
The municipality of Amstelveen must also reimburse the amount lost to an expert in the lawsuit, 300 euros.
