Governing with consent in Lunenburg

A piece of legislation passed in 2002 called The Lunenburg Commons Act was helped clarify the public use of a 22-acre parcel called Blockhouse Hill. That was property set aside after the settlement of the town in 1753. In 2017, the Liberal MLA for Lunenburg introduced amendments to that act, allowing the elected representatives to make the property available for development. And not surprisingly, many people who are finding out about this now are not pleased. Paula Rennie is one of those residents who says they are still organizing to come up with a strategy. She says not every decision council makes should be up for a public vote or a plebiscite. But she says it’s different when those plans interrupt a 270 year old promise.