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There’s still a chance that Cambridge city council will move forward with putting a sports multiplex on land owned by Conestoga College, even though a task force is looking at 30 other possible spots.
“Definitely Conestoga will be on the list,” Coun. Donna Reid told CBC KW’s The Morning Edition host Craig Norris on Monday. “That’s a possibility, same as any of the others are a possibility.”
Earlier this year, the city was ready to start building the multiplex near Conestoga College. But after people spoke out against it, council decided to create a task force to explore other locations.This map shows the land the City of Cambridge planned to lease from Conestoga College to build a recreation multiplex. (City of Cambridge)
Right now, that task force is checking out 30 different places and will be visiting some sites this week.
“Any location that anyone anywhere said was a possibility, we added to the list. So we didn’t want to leave anybody out, we didn’t want to leave any possibility out,” Reid said.
A decision might come in January
Council isn’t expected to pick the final spot for the multiplex until at least January.
Reid admits if this area wins its bid for the 2021 Canada Summer Games, there’s a chance the multiplex won’t be finished in time.
She also worries things could fall apart altogether.
“There is that fear … the longer we wait, the more expensive it becomes and whether or not we’re going to be able to find a place that is satisfactory to enough people and the cost is something that we can bear. My fear is that it won’t happen and it will get deferred and we won’t have a multiplex,” Reid said.
Input from public needed
A lot depends on where they decide to put it, Reid said.
“Depending on what site is chosen, what does that site need? With Conestoga, of course, a lot of the studies are done and completed and we could move ahead. If we choose a new site, then we’d have to do all the studies,” she explained.
My fear is that it won’t happen and it will get deferred and we won’t have a multiplex.- Cambridge Coun. Donna Reid
Lately, some folks have asked council to add a 50 m pool into the facility plans. A bigger pool could bring in big competitions and help local athletes train better.
But Reid says it’s too early for council to make those decisions yet.
The main thing now is figuring out what people really want and need.
“There have been so many people who have just said, ‘Say no to Conestoga, just say no to Conestoga.’ But that’s not really helping us,” Reid said.
“We need the positiveness to come in here, we need people to tell us more where they think it should be, what they’re willing to pay for it, how this can happen, do they care whether it doesn’t happen now, do they care if it’s 10 years from now – we need all of that kind of information.”
