With the old post office building in Lunenburg rumoured to become a strip club, one tenant worries about what it could mean for her small business.
By Jennifer Wilson <jlwilso2@dal.ca>
Posted: Oct. 23, 2006
The post office building in downtown Lunenburg could become a strip club. Photo: Jennifer Wilson
Kim Young would much rather be selling Crocs and the jibbitz accessories than tassels and edible underwear.
But if a recent inquiry into opening a strip club in downtown Lunenburg is successful, she'll need to revamp her souvenir shop, Sea Wreath Gifts, or move out.
Young opened her business a year and a half ago and says she loves the location.
At least, she loves it so long as the post office is her upstairs neighbour.
The building is on the corner of Lincoln and King Streets, in the centre of the area designated as a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization world heritage site. It’s part of the four-street block of downtown shopping and has been a local landmark since the post office took up the spot in 1880.
Talks broke down between the building’s landlord, Boston's Eleven-Eleven Group of Companies, and post office officials over lease negotiations.
While people speculated about what could possibly fill the 450 sq. m space, someone casually inquired into whether a strip club would be allowed to operate in the space in accordance with town zoning laws.
The Globe and Mail reported two weeks ago that Lunenburg was in an uproar after the owner of Eleven-Eleven said there was a 30 per cent chance the prospective tenant would sign a lease.
Kim Young serves a customer in her store, Sea Wreath Gifts. Photo: Jennifer Wilson
As it stands now, the town couldn’t refuse an application for a strip club permit. The decision would be left to the Nova Scotia Liquor Licensing Board.
The board revoked the licence of Dartmouth's Sensations strip club earlier this year after residents complained patrons were disrupting the residential neighbourhood nearby.
The Town of Lunenburg, and its citizens, want more control over what goes into their neighbourhood.
“When I read it in the newspaper, I was kind of freaking out,” Young says.
Her lease ends in May 2007. She hopes that by then the issue will have faded away.
“I love my space. I opened in here and this is where I want to stay.”
If not, Young may consider relocating her business.
“I can’t see myself being below a strip club, it’s just not my thing. It’s not something I would ever go to see or have any part of, so I just can’t see myself even being in the same building,” says Young.
While no one has applied for a licence yet, town officials are hoping to prevent similar concerns in the future.
The strip club inquiry was for the post office building right in the heart of old town Lunenburg. Source: Town of Lunenburg
Lunenburg Mayor Laurence Mawhinney says, “We’ve asked staff to look into whether we can legislate what kind of activities take place in what zones.”
A town council report should be completed by November. If it does decide on a bylaw, it could take six months to two years to pass.
Right now, the town has a municipal planning strategy and land use bylaw, which lets the town organize certain activities in specific zones.
As Mawhinney explains, “In a residential area, for example, you can’t set up a heavy trucking business.”
There’s nothing regulating adult entertainment because no one had considered the possibility, he adds.
About 15 years ago, a town bar called Spurs occasionally brought in adult entertainment. That caused an uproar among citizens and it quickly fizzled out due to a lack of customers.
“There really wasn’t the clientele to support anything of that type then, nor do I think there is now,” says Mawhinney.
But, now that the town has the UNESCO heritage designation, townspeople are becoming more active in preserving the town's lifestyle.
“In Lunenburg, an issue like this becomes large very quickly,” says Mawhinney. “Responses have ranged the gamut from light-hearted to very serious.”
Some Lunenburgers have reacted by saying they'll just have to deal with it, while others say they don't want that kind of entertainment in their town.
Mawhinney says that responses to the bylaw proposal have been overwhelmingly positive. Young says that she'll support the bylaw.
For now, while preventive measures are being looked at by the town, neither Young nor Mawhinney really seem to expect to see a strip club in the historic town.
Young says, “I’m really hoping it’s a bad joke.”
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