After some revisions to their original plans, the developers behind the new King’s Arms Hotel in Lunenburg were given a certificate of appropriateness by the Town Council.
The town’s heritage bylaws require a public meeting before Town Council can grant a certificate of appropriateness, which Mayor Matt Risser likened to a development permit for the heritage district. That has now been completed and as the design of the building already fits the heritage district bylaws no building permit is required.
Brian MacKay-Lyons, of MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects, presented to council on behalf of the developers.
During his presentation, he outlined the design of the building and explained how it fits in with the existing heritage buildings in the area. “The program for the new hotel is 41 hotel rooms, a street front café and hotel lobby. Parking has been removed from the proposal and will be provided outside of the old town, served by a shuttle service,” MacKay-Lyons said during his remarks to council.
Council shot down the original proposal from developer Richard Homburg earlier this year, citing issues with the planned demolition of an existing heritage building and the plans for a parking structure.
The plans that were granted the certificate of appropriateness abandoned the planned demolition and the parking structure.
Mayor Risser is excited the project is moving forward and the message it sends to other developers eyeing Lunenburg, “I think it’s really exciting because it shows it isn’t as hard to build in the heritage district as many people might think.”.
Risser added that this is an example of a good developer that understands the value of Lunenburg’s heritage as demonstrated by their openness to change their plans to address heritage concerns.
