The city's plan to decommission the John Dolson Centre pool in 2026 could add momentum to a concept to redevelop the former St. Ambrose school property into as many as 360-units around a "community hub" that includes a new pool and daycare centre.
The 2.8-acre site on Chalmers Street South is one of six "underutilized" properties owned by the City of Cambridge that were shortlisted for potential redevelopment following a directive from the previous council to look for housing opportunities on suitable, city-owned land.
Over the last few years, staff short listed sites and took council direction to hire a consultant to prepare the renderings.
Other sites identified by staff include the Preston Scout House, an empty lot on Ethel Street and a one-acre chunk of land on Grand Ridge Drive.
A sliver of land behind Galt Collegiate, and the woodlot bordered by Bishop Street North, Conestoga Boulevard and Lena Crescent won't get further consideration because they are limited by the flood plain and contain a wetland.
Concepts for the four properties considered suitable for housing are expected to lead to proposals that increase the city's affordable housing stock while helping Cambridge meet its 10-year, 19,000 homes pledge.
The ideas also have to be on the table soon so the city can take advantage of federal cash offered through the Housing Accelerator Fund.
Anything recommended by staff would trigger public consultation before council moves forward on a final decision.
Then it would go to a request for proposal process seeking developers willing to take advantage of the cleared path for development.
Council sat through an hour-long workshop outlining the various concepts yesterday after deferring a report and presentation in April.
The April report included renderings of several housing concepts staff believe best suit the sites.
They include the Preston Scout House on Queenston Road where staff believes a three-storey, 24-unit, walk-up apartment building that wraps around the heritage structure could be the best way to utilize the property.
In deferring the presentation, council said it wanted to get a better grasp of what staff is proposing before giving direction to move forward on a recommendation report.
That report would seek council approval on any zoning and official plan amendments for each of the six shortlisted properties.
The concepts for the Scout House are considered the most controversial because of impacts to the heritage building.
Staff say the three ideas the consultant considered for the property are all "sympathetic additions" to the heritage building and take advantage of its location near Preston's core and major transit routes.
Mayor Jan Liggett, however, didn't mince words in offering her opinion of the renderings.
"I hate all of them," she said, adding she doesn't understand why the concepts, which range from low density stacked towns to the apartment, weren't drawn up as wings reaching to the outside of the property instead of surrounding the Scout House.
"Then I think you still could have accommodated some density and not made it look like the building was being crushed."
The reason for that, said development planner Matthew Blevins, was to maximize the number of units while accommodating as much conventional parking as possible.
He said he'd take that input back to the consultant to perhaps come up with some more "inventive ways" of accommodating parking on the site while still maximizing density.
Blevins told council when recommendations come back to council, they will still be based on the visualizations that have been prepared because of timelines the city needs to meet to take advantage of the housing accelerator fund.
"It's important we keep the momentum we have on the project," he said, adding it doesn't mean council has to endorse any of the recommendations put forward or presented.
Coun. Scott Hamilton asked if the pool and gym at the John Dolson Centre could be part of any proposed redevelopment at St. Ambrose while Liggett suggested a daycare centre too.
"That's certainly something we would look at when we do a rezone," replied deputy city manager Hardy Bromberg.
He said a list of possible amenities would be included in the parameters the city puts out to developers when initiating a request for proposal on each of the sites.
"Here's the maximum that you can build, however you also need to provide A, B, C, D, daycare space, community space and make it somehow more of a community hub," he said.
"Our seniors use that pool constantly," Liggett said. "That's why we're looking at multi use on some of these as much as we can."
Yesterday's workshop didn't allow council to provide direction to staff. That opportunity will come when a recommendation report comes to council later this year.
Blevins said in the meantime he will reach out to the development community to find out what they're thinking so the city can find "the most efficient path" between a recommendation from staff to getting actual shovels in the ground.
