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Writing strict limits on the heights of new buildings into Ottawa’s all-powerful official land-use plan is OK because those limits won’t be that binding, the city’s top planning lawyer argued in court Friday.

That sound you hear is people across downtown screaming.

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What was going on in Courtroom 36 in the Elgin Street courthouse was the most technical of legal proceedings. City lawyer Tim Marc was asking Judge Marc Labrosse for permission to make a full judicial appeal of an Ontario Municipal Board decision on a community design plan for Centretown. That plan took years to write and has been challenged in numerous ways. Since it governs what can be built on Ottawa’s most valuable land, both big money and the feel of downtown for decades to come are at stake.

Most of Ottawa’s big land-use fights come down to height: how tall a new building can be, considering what it’s next to. The plan for Centretown tried to do something unusual by including a schedule of precise heights for what’s allowed where. At least, that’s how it was billed.