The problem with being too pedantic and formal for simple approvals is that owners get frustrated at having simple matters held up waiting for approval so they go ahead in any case. This breeds a culture in which approvals are not sought and regrettable changes are made, not always bad enough to justify heavy-handed action to reverse but part of a gradual erosion of the appearance of the property. Prompt approval by email with later minuting at a formal meeting encourages people to do the right thing and get approval. That makes it easier for the committee to intervene before it is too late to get improvements in owners' proposals that avoid the cumulative erosion of the architectural style of our set of townhouses.
In practice, past committees have been very timid about reversing unilateral actions of owners so it is good to develop a culture of compliance. Our present committee is the first in 30 years (to my knowledge) to issue Article Infringement Notices (after talking and nice letters), the first step in the formal process leading to a ruling from ACAT (the ACT equivalent of CTTT). All that is to remove some fences erected by owners on common property, that would be within our power to just demolish if we cared to go that way.