‘Silly’ complaint about flower garden referred back to land committee

Outside of a legitimate fire safety concern, a complaint about a front yard garden that encroaches onto public property was seen mostly as a waste of time from some on council.

“It seems like we’re sending two messages here. We’re saying, ‘Oh, you have to maintain it, but don’t make it too nice.’ Because if you make it too nice, then we’re going to tell you to remove it,” said Councillor Nick Dubanow, suggesting he routinely hears people grumbling about town bylaws that require certain upkeep standards on boulevards and ditches.

“I think it’s, dare I say this, it’s almost silly.”

Ultimately councillors referred the issue back to the land committee to work on a solution.

Property owner Gloria Damoff spoke earlier in the meeting, telling councillors she was willing to work with the town to keep her garden intact, and said it was a retirement project of hers when she moved in about a decade ago.

Since then it has drawn positive attention from most in the neighbourhood.

She was seeking an encroachment agreement.

“I’ve kept the property, I believe, in good shape. I’ve been a good neighbour,” she said, adding even if the town wouldn’t enter an encroachment agreement she hoped the garden could stay up and simply be part of the public property.

“I’m more than willing, and I’ve never stopped anyone from coming on my property,” she said.

When she moved in, she said she had no idea it was town property because the previous owner also had a small flower garden out front.

Responding to a question from Councillor Ann-Marie Noyes, Damoff said her garden doesn’t impact sightlines on Prospect Point Road.

“Never, nothing,” Damoff said.

Noyes seemed to take a similar approach to Dubanow, saying resident flower beds extending onto town property isn’t unusual.

“If I should drive through town and I should be looking for flower beds on boulevards, I think I’d find many that would probably be on town property,” she said.

There is a fire hydrant on the property, and councillors agreed that concerns about access to the hydrant should be considered. But otherwise, councillors mostly agreed that the garden should be left alone.

Damoff said she was open to moving plants around or otherwise working with the town to ensure access to the hydrant.

The land committee recommended denying the request for an encroachment agreement.

Councillors voted against that recommendation before referring it back to the committee.

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