Lunenburg needs to make room for more people

I want Lunenburg to grow. The town needs more homes, more year-round residents, and a larger tax base.

Council has said housing is a priority. The Town has changed planning rules, created incentives, and adopted new infrastructure policies. Its Housing Accelerator Fund update reports 31 net new units permitted in 2024 and 2025 against a four-year target of 135. It does not yet report how many of those homes have started construction or been completed.

When a difficult proposal arrives, Lunenburg still tends to settle the town's future through one project fight at a time.

A housing proposal becomes a debate about whether any change belongs near Old Town. A utility constraint becomes a reason to stop rather than a problem to cost and schedule. Public land is discussed as though the only choices are to sell it or never touch it.

The result is a gap between saying Lunenburg needs housing and doing the work that gets suitable projects built.

Lunenburg should decide that it intends to grow. Council should be clear about where homes should go and which infrastructure comes first. It should also define what the heritage rules protect and what the public receives when its land or money helps a project.

Suitable projects should move forward

A project should have to show that it can be serviced, financed, and built. It should meet clear rules for scale, streets, heritage, stormwater, and public access. If it uses public land, it should have stronger delivery terms than a project on private land.

Once a proposal meets the published rules and resolves its real constraints, the Town should be trying to get it built. A refusal should rest on a specific problem that cannot be fixed, not a general discomfort with change.

The recent Solterre appeal shows what can go wrong. Council said the town needed housing, then refused the rezoning partly because of possible effects on the UNESCO site. The Nova Scotia Regulatory and Appeals Board found that the concern did not support refusal for a project outside both the World Heritage property and its buffer. Town staff had screened the project and expected little or no direct negative effect on the site's protected values. In August, Council directed its lawyer to appeal the Board's decision in court.

Blockhouse Hill needs more work on infrastructure, heritage, and the terms of any use of public land. Removing it from the surplus-property list was defensible as a pause. If nobody is responsible for doing the work to push it forward, the pause will last indefinitely.

Clear heritage rules can make change easier

Lunenburg's heritage is one of its greatest strengths. The street grid, wooden buildings, public spaces, working waterfront, setting, and scale are worth protecting.

Clear rules tell a developer what will fit and tell residents what cannot be compromised. Vague rules turn every proposal into a referendum on the town's identity.

Old Town does not have to be frozen to remain valuable. B2 Lofts combined the renovation of a 19th-century building with a new building beside it in the World Heritage Site. The project put six loft-style units above two commercial spaces and won heritage and architecture awards. The units are now marketed as visitor accommodations, so they should not be counted as six year-round homes. The project still shows that well-designed infill is possible inside the protected core.

The Lunenburg Academy has been repurposed for a library, music programs, community organizations, and other tenants. Ironworks Distillery preserved the old Walters blacksmith shop and later added a tasting room. Neither project added housing, but both kept an old building in active use.

Some Old Town sites can take infill or a new use. Areas outside the protected core can support more homes at different scales. The UNESCO buffer calls for early assessment where a project may affect the setting; it does not prohibit housing.

The Town has updated its Heritage Conservation District plan, bylaw, and design guidelines. It now needs to use those rules early enough that an applicant can change a design before Council reaches a final vote.

Infrastructure should lead somewhere

Lunenburg is preparing to spend almost $21 million on its electric system over five years. Water, wastewater, stormwater, streets, and public buildings also need major work.

Those investments are necessary even without growth. They should also be planned with growth in mind.

A stronger electric feeder or water main is not just a budget line. It can make new homes and businesses possible. Council should say which areas gain capacity, when they gain it, and what kind of development that capacity is expected to support.

Council cannot promise that every parcel is buildable. It can publish the order of planned utility work and identify the areas each project is expected to serve. Builders would know where capacity is coming and where a proposal must pay for an upgrade or wait.

Public land should serve a public purpose

The Town owns land for many reasons. Some parcels should remain parks, utility land, waterfront access, or future civic sites. Some may be better used for housing. The decision should come from a public-land strategy, not the pressure of one sale.

Where housing is appropriate, sale is not the only option. The Town can lease land, retain easements, require construction deadlines, protect paths and views, add affordability terms, and recover land if a buyer does not deliver.

Public ownership gives Lunenburg leverage. Leaving a useful site idle without a purpose does not preserve that leverage forever; it can simply defer a difficult choice while housing costs rise.

More homes need more than one kind of builder

Lunenburg needs private developers to build many of its new homes, and it should make good private projects easier to complete.

They will not meet every need. A non-profit or rental co-op can keep homes outside the speculative market. Public and supportive housing can reach people a cost-based co-op cannot. Homeowners can add secondary suites. Small builders can fill gaps that do not suit a large project.

The Town does not need to choose one model. It needs rules and land strategies that let several models work.

Affordability also needs a separate policy. More market housing helps by adding supply and allowing people to move. It does not guarantee a low rent in a new building. If Council wants below-market homes, it must attach a defined requirement, subsidy, land contribution, or operating support.

Council has to move from policy to projects

Lunenburg cannot control interest rates, construction costs, provincial policy, or federal funding. It can make a few choices that would change the quality of every future debate:

• make more housing and a larger year-round population explicit goals;
• identify the areas and housing types the Town wants to enable;
• connect capital projects to the growth they are meant to support;
• set heritage and waterfront limits in language people can apply;
• decide which public lands must be retained and which can serve housing; and
• state the extra terms required when public land or funding is involved.

Each item also needs a person responsible, a next decision, and a public date. Council should report how many homes were permitted, started, and completed, then explain why important sites or proposals stalled. Counting policies as complete is not enough if the housing never follows.

Residents will still argue about height, traffic, views, cost, and design. Council will still need to reject some projects. But the question will be whether a proposal meets Lunenburg's chosen direction and conditions, not whether growth itself is welcome.

Reacting after each proposal arrives has already cost time. Solterre went through a refusal and appeal, while Blockhouse Hill still has no route forward.

The Town should protect the buildings, streets, views, and public places that make Lunenburg worth living in. It should also choose where more people can live and do the work to make that growth possible.