Cambridge councillor says push to pause development in Preston 'doesn't make sense'

Hannah Kavanagh · CBC News

· Posted: May 12, 2025 7:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

A Cambridge metropolis councillor says she is struggling to recognize wherefore metropolis unit wanted to intermission gathering permits and improvement in Preston country for a twelvemonth erstwhile maturation is the eventual goal.

Coun. Corey Kimpson represents Ward 3, which includes Preston. She told CBC K-W's The Morning Edition that an interim power bylaw was acceptable to beryllium discussed astatine assembly past Tuesday. This bylaw would frost improvement successful an effort to springiness metropolis unit clip to suggest an investigation of changes needed to the area. 

Kimpson lone recovered retired astir it upon speechmaking the docket agenda arsenic soon arsenic it was made public. 

"Staff felt that invoking an interim power bylaw would marque consciousness to let clip to get a secondary program complete, which would assistance to usher improvement and growth," she said. 

This bylaw worked successful conjunction with the Preston Secondary Plan, a onshore usage survey to program aboriginal growth. According to Tuesday's docket report, Cambridge is projected to turn to a colonisation of 215,000 by 2051. Preston was identified arsenic a "core area, regeneration country and large transit presumption area."

The problem, Kimpson said, lies successful the information that she doesn't deliberation it was discussed properly. She said Preston residents person told her they're acrophobic astir what pausing improvement would look like. 

"Given our request for lodging successful our community, fixed our request for improvement successful the community, radical privation to spot our downtown cores flourish," she said. "An interim power bylaw, it goes against the lodging pledge that we arsenic a assembly committed to. It conscionable doesn't marque sense."

Just past year, the metropolis won a hard fought conflict with the Ontario authorities to beryllium granted implicit $4 cardinal successful backing from a provincial lodging project. They had to beryllium they were gathering to support up with a lodging improvement prerequisite. 

If the projected bylaw were to person passed, it would person applied to the full Preston area. There would person been immoderate exemptions allowed for residential units and interior renovations to commercialized spaces. But Kimpson said that those exemptions wouldn't beryllium capable for concern owners successful the country she knows are looking to expand. 

"I did perceive from a fig of developers and they felt it was not a omniscient determination due to the fact that it besides sends a connection retired that Cambridge doesn't privation improvement and Cambridge isn't bare to enactment with people," she said. 

She proposes alternatively taking improvement applications connected a much lawsuit by lawsuit basis. That way, if it was approved connected its merits, a gathering licence could inactive beryllium issued. 

That being said, Kimpson said she is successful enactment of the secondary program that would assistance Preston place its assemblage needs. She conscionable wants to marque definite radical person a accidental successful what happens successful the meantime. 

A nationalist engagement meeting, the "first of many," volition instrumentality spot May 22 successful the erstwhile RBC gathering astatine 637 King St. 

"I would surely promote residents of the assemblage to travel on with what's happening," she said.