Community garden approved
Staff writer
Hillsboro Elementary School’s garden club appeared Tuesday at Hillsboro’s city council meeting to propose creating a community garden near the pioneer Adobe house’s visitor center.
In their presentation, members highlighted growing crops for supermarkets and food banks, bringing the community together for gardening, and growing flowers to beautify the town.
The school has applied for grants for a watering system, tool shed, and equipment for the garden. Existing fencing should keep wildlife out, and 4-H and FFA members could form a board to manage the garden.
“This group has been working hard since the beginning of the year,” principal Evan Yoder said. “They’ve been enthusiastic, and it’s fun to watch them take this by the horns.”
The council approved creation of the garden and will lend city equipment to break the ground for planting.
In other business Tuesday, the council approved a 60-day moratorium before licensing to develop container homes in Hillsboro.
City administrator Matt Stiles said discussion at a Jan. 18 meeting brought issues to light. The city will take the moratorium to further research container homes.
“The more you get into it, the more things come up,” Stiles said. “I honestly don’t think at this point that they’re ready for a building permit anyway. We don’t want to push anyone away, but at the same time, we want to make a decision on how we’ll manage this.”
The council said they will not change their building permits or regulations to fit the new homes.
In other business, a restock of a 300 kVA pad-mount transformer was approved for over $19,000; Hillsboro recreation commission head Doug Sisk gave a report showing that most programs had larger profits after the pandemic and profits had doubled over the past 15 years; and an EBH proposal for CIP development was approved.