Plans being drawn up for new boat house, but no ‘oars in the pond’ yet

By Mark Squibb/March 10, 2023

When folks talk about undertaking municipal projects, they often talk about being excited to “get shovels in the ground.”

In the case of the new Paradise boathouse, there may not be any shovels going in the ground, per say, so Paradise councillors are content to say they’re excited to get “oars in the water.”

During this week’s meeting, Recreation and Community Services chairperson Elizabeth Laurie noted, during her committee report, that staff had provided the committee with three detailed concept floor plan designs for the new community boathouse. The committee favoured one design in particular, and staff will now meet with the Avalon Dragons, a breast cancer survivor dragon boat team partnering with the Town for the design and construction of the boat house, to review the plan.

“I’m very pleased to see that the concept plan for the boathouse is moving along and progressing,” said councillor Patrick Martin. ‘We’ve been a long-time trying to get this off the ground, so I can’t wait to get shovels in the ground for this one — or, something in the water, we’ll say.”

Laurie then clarified that the Town is still in the “very, very, very early stages of planning,” and that “they’re won’t be any oars in the pond anytime soon.”

Councillor Deborah Quilty asked when council might see those plans.

Laurie said that those plans could be provided now.

Talk of a boat house has been ongoing for a number of years, and ramped up when the Town purchased land off of Octagon Pond and partnered with the Dragons to make the dream a reality.

Without a community boathouse, Dragons have been storing their boats in shipping containers.