Paradise salvages Woodstock park plan

By Chris Lewis/August 12, 2021

The Town of Paradise is moving ahead with a community park despite it being a little over budget.

Back in 2020, the Town of Paradise held a public consultation session with residents in the Woodstock subdivision to talk about open space issues.

Following that, a design was finalized for a proposed playground and park.

During last week’s meeting of council, on Tuesday Aug. 3, councillor Patrick Martin said the Town had issued an RFP for the development of some open space in Woodstock Gardens.

That RFP received only one response, from Redwood Construction Ltd.

The submission, Martin said, was over the amount the Town had budgeted for the project. The Town had earmarked $295,000 for the work, but the quote from Redwood came in at $463,086.

“The Recreation and Community Services Committee reviewed the quote and adjusted the amenities to allow for this project to continue,” Martin said.

With those adjusted amenities, the new quote for this project came in at a lowered cost of $312,778.

“The committee referred the budget overrun to the finance committee for review,” Martin said, adding that after this review, the committee came forward with a recommendation for the Town to withdraw the additional $17,000 from its open space funds.

This resulted in a recommendation for approval on the project coming from the recreation committee.

The Town’s Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Lisa Niblock said the only major difference to the plan is the surface, which will no longer be rubberized.

Deputy Mayor Elizabeth Laurie said that without the extra open space funding, the likely scenario would have meant even more things being removed from the plan.

One of the first that came to her mind was a basketball court surface, which likely would not have been in the picture had the funds not been available.

“I’m happy the park is not changing that much from what the residents voted for, and what we as council approved,” she said. “I don’t think anyone’s going to be upset.”

Martin said this project has been a long time coming and has become a bit of a talking point for residents since last year’s consultation process. The consultations, he added, were an important part of the larger puzzle.

“It lets the residents have their say in what they want to see in their community,” Martin said. “I like the method we’ve taken … I’m happy to see this move forward.”