A non-profit community organization will be given a $5.5-million provincial loan to purchase the land, buildings and eight wharfs that have stood since being built early last century.

…”I guess the first thank you goes to the community, who really understood the importance of our controlling the future and developing it as a working waterfront, not turning it into a residential, tourist or museum activity,” he said as fishing vessels and boats laden with tourists passed by.

…Mayor Laurence Mawhinney praised the province and said he hopes the purchase will allow the area to resurrect a fishing industry that has struggled for years as stocks dwindle and companies downsize.
Nova Scotia to buy waterfront properties in historic Lunenburg

ALISON AULD

LUNENBURG, N.S. (CP) - The community of Lunenburg reclaimed some of its most treasured waterfront buildings in a $5.5-million deal it hopes will breath new life into its seafaring heritage.

As the fabled Bluenose II schooner sailed past, Premier John Hamm announced Wednesday that the province would purchase 22 buildings that have come to symbolize this picturesque seaside town.

Hamm said the province had to intervene and buy the string of red buildings to prevent them from falling into the hands of questionable developers.

“What we wanted to achieve was to give the community the ability to control their waterfront,” he said on a shoreline boardwalk that links the buildings that served the fishing industry for decades.

“Imagine if we didn’t do it and all this became lost.”

A non-profit community organization will be given a $5.5-million provincial loan to purchase the land, buildings and eight wharfs that have stood since being built early last century.

Jim Eisenhauser, who leads the group charged with deciding which businesses can set up in the properties, said the purchase ensures Lunenburg will have more control over its future.

“I guess the first thank you goes to the community, who really understood the importance of our controlling the future and developing it as a working waterfront, not turning it into a residential, tourist or museum activity,” he said as fishing vessels and boats laden with tourists passed by.

Eisenhauer said he expects the aging buildings will be resold to ship builders, ship operators, fishing companies, possibly a sailing academy, and other ventures tied to the sea - something that was key to winning community support.

There has been concern in the 250-year-old fishing village about what would become of the property since Clearwater Seafood announced in late 2003 it would sell them.

Residents were concerned the company would sell to a developer who would turn the buildings into high-priced condominiums, creating very few jobs for the community and steering it away from its traditions on the sea.

“Lunenburg is a fishing village and if you take the boats out, it don’t leave much,” Russell Eisenhauer, 42, said on a break from his work repairing a sewer line as crews began removing For Sale signs on the nearby buildings.

“This is a lot off people’s chests because they didn’t know what was going to happen with the buildings. We’d like to see the fishing get back going again.”

The buildings, which once adorned the Canadian $100 bill, helped establish Lunenburg as one of the world’s few UN heritage sites. The waterfront area includes a sail loft, dory shop, machine shop, brokerage and retail outlets, an iron forge and building spaces used by vessel owners.

Mayor Laurence Mawhinney praised the province and said he hopes the purchase will allow the area to resurrect a fishing industry that has struggled for years as stocks dwindle and companies downsize.

“I think we can really make a living from it for the next century - I’m delighted,” he said.

Colin MacDonald of Clearwater said there were three other bidders vying for the properties, adding that one offered to pay $600,000 more than the asking price of about $9 million.

But MacDonald said he wanted to put the real estate back in the hands of the town and the association, which hopes to pay back the provincial loan by reselling and leasing the properties.

Ferry firm aims for spring start
Public gets peek at Shelburne-to-Boston proposal

HALIFAX HERALD August 18, 2005
By BRIAN MEDEL Yarmouth Bureau

SHELBURNE - Ferry proponents have set a target of next spring for a new service between Shelburne and Boston.

Two Shores Atlantic LLC executives Gene Hartigan and new CEO Guy Conrad of Boston outlined the proposed service at a public meeting here Tuesday.

Mr. Conrad said they’d like to begin their service next May but won’t know for a while if that is a reasonable target.

“Will you see the first ship coming in May 1? Probably not but that’s what we’re aiming for,” he said.

“This is not an easy thing to do,” said Mr. Hartigan.

“If it was, everybody would be doing it” he said.

“It is our goal that we will have a ship targeted within the next couple of months,” he said.

They’re using the firm of Hornblower Marine Services Inc. of Indiana to find them a vessel.

“Being an hour closer (than Yarmouth) to Halifax is an asset,” said Mr. Conrad about Shelburne as a port.

He spoke of using a conventional vessel and not a fast ferry. The fuel consumption is much greater in a fast craft.

A typical big ferry cruising at 33 kilometres per hour would take about 16 hours to cross to Shelburne from Boston, he said.

A Boston departure at 5 p.m. would put the ship into Shelburne the following morning where it would remain all day before sailing again at about 8 p.m. for a noon arrival back in Boston.

The autoport, in north Boston, is a likely docking area, said the Two Shores Atlantic executives.

Shelburne Mayor P.G. Comeau is expected to be in Halifax through to Friday with Two Shores Atlantic officials to talk with Premier John Hamm, Tourism Minister Rodney MacDonald, ACOA and provincial economic development officials.

Two Shores Atlantic has a group of investors waiting but the public may be invited to buy into the company.

“We’ll make that happen if there is interest,” said Mr. Hartigan.

In Shelburne, the local port authority will have to make financing arrangements to build a terminal and docking facilities to the north of the existing town wharf.

“We have selected an area well north (of the wharf) . . . up to lands we are expropriating from the CNR,” said Mr. Comeau.

The town owns a water lot of about 305 metres around the perimeter of the wharf and plans to infill the water lot and create another 1.8 hectares for berths, marshalling and holding areas and a terminal site.

The town has also purchased additional land from the Irving group and is now negotiating for more land, as the mayor said, with CN Rail. The port authority is composed of the mayor and three of six town councillors and recently approved a consultant’s report citing the need for a $10 million to $12 million expansion of the port, including docking and terminal.

Town council is expected to approve the report’s recommendations, said Mr. Comeau.

The authority would likely seek $2 million to $3 million in government assistance for port upgrades in 2006, starting with $500,000 of its own money.