Paradise to poll residents on their preferred community garden site

By Mark Squibb

For the Town of Paradise, the question may not be ‘How does your garden grow,’ but ‘Where does your garden grow.’

Back in 2022, the Town constructed a community garden off Lanark Drive with $18,000 in provincial government funding and help from the Carpenter’s Millwright College.

The garden consists of 20 raised beds and four accessible beds. In 2022, 17 beds were claimed. In 2023, that number dropped to 15, and in 2024 it rose to 16. In 2025, 18 beds were used.

During council’s March 31 committee of the whole meeting, councillor Glen Carew brought forward a recommendation from staff to hold off on any plans for more gardens, as the current one is not being used to its potential. Staff also want to know whether the garden ought to be relocated.

“It’s getting considerable use, but there’s still room to grow — you see what I did there?” quipped Carew. “The question, essentially, was the lack of uptake for the community garden a location issue? We know it’s on Lanark Drive, so the thought here is could we ask or poll residents if there’s an appetite for a community garden in other geographical areas in town?”

Deputy Mayor Kimberley Street said she likes the current location, but would like to see all the beds used.

Street recalled that in a bid to encourage budding green thumbs, a previous term of council updated the regulations to better accommodate home greenhouses. Greenhouses are no longer considered when the Town calculates how much space a property has available for a shed or garage. And greenhouses with a floorplan of less than 10 metres squared no longer require construction permits.

Given the proximity of a nearby playground and basketball court, expansion at the Lanark location would be impossible.

Councillor Sheldon Antle, who admitted that he once tried his hand at gardening but found his thumb not as green as he thought it might be, voiced support for the idea of polling residents as to a preferred location.

Staff was given a greenlight to go ahead with the polling.