The members of the Cambridge Association of Neighborhoods gathered at the local library on September 7 for their monthly meeting, and things did or didn’t go as expected, depending on your point of view. There was an unusually good turnout, and events proceeded smoothly—for a while.
The meeting began with CAN President Chuck McFadden offering a reminder that, though membership is free, the board is happy to accept donations from the 564 members to grow the coffers that currently contain $3,867. Regular emails go out to 681 people to keep them informed of what’s happening in the community, such as CAN’s collaboration with the police department on a neighborhood watch initiative. It was announced that board elections will be in December, and then Judd Vickers introduced the guest speaker.
Matt Leonard, executive director of Cambridge Waterfront Development, Incorporated, began his presentation by mentioning that the nonprofit entity had been formed in 2018 for the purpose of developing the multi-use complex known as Cambridge Harbor. CWDI is run by a seven-member, volunteer board of directors appointed by the city, county, and governor.
“They bring a nice cross-section of skills and abilities,” said Leonard as he started through a powerpoint on the projection screen. “Some development, some development law, some communications and outreach and marketing, real estate, events and activation. So, they really bring to the board what we need to make best decisions.”
He displayed CWDI’s mission, which “is to develop Cambridge Harbor in partnership with the community, to the benefit of the community, and to sustainably operate and maintain Cambridge Harbor as an inviting, accessible, active, and enjoyable place to live, work, play, and visit.” Then he explained how CWDI is different from a master developer, who would want to control everything: “We put the community’s vision for the property first.”
This led into the balance CWDI attempts between community development and economic development in creating Cambridge Harbor. According to Leonard, doing both will make the complex socially and economically sustainable.
“If you only do one or the other,” he said, “you will fail.”
Cambridge Harbor takes up 34 acres of land between Maryland Avenue and the Choptank River, 20 of which are developable. 35% of the property (seven acres) will be open public space next to the waterfront. The types of developments incorporated will be a new marina with 150 slips, hotel/hospitality, food and beverage, and residential/mixed use. Also on Leonard’s powerpoint chart was “YMCA.” More on that shortly.
An audience member inquired about the blanked-out spaces under “Developer” on the chart, and Leonard explained the redactions were due to the confidentiality of the potential partners with whom CWDI is currently negotiating.
“We have received a lot of proposals,” he said, “and we’re reviewing those and dealing with those as they come in.”
CWDI will make the decision about the best developers to move forward with, but they’ll still need to go through the normal process that all private developers do, including planning and zoning, city approval, and permitting. The proposed partners will say how many jobs they will bring to the property, and then CWDI will verify the numbers and check with a third-party consultant. The estimated total of new jobs for Cambridge Harbor is 270.
Someone asked if there had been any talk about making Cambridge a cruise-line embarkation point. Leonard said there has, in fact, been some discussion.
“Progress has gone even better than we had planned,” he continued. “So, rather than waiting until the end of 2023 to issue our next report, we are circling back now to you, our stakeholder community, to provide you with an update on our progress.”
CWDI’s six goals for 2023 were the following:
- Establish a downtown office.
- Launch a website.
- Complete amenity and infrastructure plans (for public spaces, parks, roadways, etc.).
- Break ground on the promenade (biking and walking path).
- Increase mission-critical partnerships.
- Advance financial self-sustainability.
While Leonard was presenting this list, a woman in the audience interrupted. “Where does the YMCA fit in?”
“Well, we can skip down to that slide, or we can work toward that slide,” Leonard replied. “What would you all like to do?”
The woman answered, “We’d like to eliminate that slide.”
After the general laughter, other members said they could work toward the slide in question. But this was a foreshadowing of things to come.
Leonard went through his list and explained that CWDI had established an office in the Chamber of Commerce, that a website had been created (CambridgeHarbor.org), and that a Facebook page has been planned.
Responding to the goal of completing amenity and infrastructure plans, someone asked if the public would once more be allowed to swim off the beach in that section of town, something that had been forbidden in recent years. Leonard replied, “That is our plan.” Other people expressed concerns about the water quality of the Choptank, and McFadden said that Matt Pluta of ShoreRivers would be the best individual to address that issue.
Leonard continued with his powerpoint, which showed that CWDI’s current mission-critical partners cover the fields of landscape design, branding, website design, urban development planning, civil and coastal engineering, public infrastructure design, municipal financial advising, development advising, hospitality consultation, and urban transportation. Next, he started the audience through a virtual tour of Cambridge Harbor, touching on maritime heritage and history, the promenade-to-wharf area, maritime trades and the working waterfront, the boutique hotel, waterfront public park, events stage, activated park, expanded beach, and retail district.
A question was raised about the footpath over the Cambridge Creek Bridge, and Leonard said that CWDI wants it to improve but that the decision is ultimately in the state’s hands.
After revealing that he thinks the boutique hotel will cost closer to $25 million than to $30 million, Leonard mentioned he would like developers to create a meeting space in Cambridge Harbor to replace the demolished Governor’s Hall. He showed the plan for the event stage next to the new Watermen Way road. Then he moved to the retail corridor and said, “This is where the YMCA is currently shown on the plan. They’ll bring people to the site year round.”
The free flow of questions began, and the reason for the large turnout of members became quickly apparent.
“The Y says they have no plans to move,” said one man. “They’re gonna stay there.”
McFadden replied, “They said they’re not going to make a final decision this calendar year.”
Leonard followed that up by saying, “We won’t pretend the Y didn’t return an expression of interest, but we haven’t finalized anything.” He added later, “We haven’t signed agreements with anybody yet.”
Then McFadden pressed him a bit on the Y’s plan to move to Cambridge Harbor. “It’s not ‘maybe,’ it’s ‘pretty sure.’” But Leonard countered, “No, it’s ‘maybe.’”
Someone said forcefully that a nontaxable entity should not be placed on taxable property. Leonard said the Y might fit with the community development vision if not the economic development one.
“The Y pays zero real estate tax,” he admitted. “And so will the public park. And so will the promenade. We’re looking at an entity that might be able to help us activate the site in a way that it needs to be activated.”
Then someone shouted, “You already made the deal!”
“I think we’re talking to the wrong person,” said another man. “We need to be talking to Robbie Gill,” who is CEO of the YMCA of the Chesapeake.
Leonard tried to calm the audience by saying that, as a resident of Somerset Avenue, he also has concerns about what will happen to the current Y property on Talbot Avenue if the Y moves. He agrees with Gill’s conviction that the land should be used for residential purposes.
Someone else asked if a new YMCA building would be the “highest and best use” of the Cambridge Harbor property. Leonard said, “If we were to look at the highest and best use, by the definition of what accountants and appraisers use as ‘highest and best use’ for the property, we’d be building six-story condos all the way up to the water, every inch of it. That’s not who we are or what we are, because we have a community-first approach.”
Due to these questions and more, Leonard wasn’t able to continue the virtual tour—which would have covered the tree park, serenity garden, and promenade—before the 8pm end of the meeting.
Write a Letter to the Editor on this Article
We encourage readers to offer their point of view on this article by submitting the following form. Editing is sometimes necessary and is done at the discretion of the editorial staff.