Staff had visited the South Chippawa Road facility to OK the school's request to build a new gymnasium - the Creative Centre for Learning and Development.

Planning chair Sue-Ellen Merritt said her comments were not specific to Robert Land, but she voiced concerns regarding the township's monitoring of building projects that occur without proper permits.

"Is there anything the township can do to monitor that?" she asked planning director Brian Treble.

"The one avenue is court costs and legal costs," he replied. "The other avenue is to up the penalties."

Mayor Katie Trombetta said there are "plenty" of buildings constructed across the municipality without permits.

"There needs to be much stiffer penalties," she said. "I'm talking thousands and thousands of dollars."

Currently, the penalty for failing to acquire a permit fee is worth twice the amount of the original permit.

Those penalized may also need to uncover parts of the work completed and get engineering reports, explained Treble.

Merritt requested staff to complete research in regards to stiffening the penalties for those who build without a permit.