CAMBRIDGE — Although a June 7 email sent by the YMCA of the Chesapeake made people think the organization had reached a deal with Cambridge Waterfront Development Inc. to build a new YMCA on the Cambridge Harbor site, both CWDI Executive Director Matt Leonard and YMCA of the Chesapeake CEO Robbie Gill confirmed Tuesday that there is no deal.
“There has not been talk of a deal with the YMCA,” Leonard said in an interview with the Star Democrat, adding that the two groups do have conversations from time to time about the YMCA’s interest in being a part of the project to develop space along the Choptank River.
Leonard said CWDI has had those kinds of conversations with multiple respondents of a July 2022 request for proposals. The YMCA was one of the respondents of that request.
The June 7 email the YMCA sent out included a “facility update” about banners the organization is replacing at its current Cambridge location on Talbot Avenue.
“As we work to highlight all the positives that come with building a new Robbins Family Y at Cambridge Harbor, we wanted to give you a sneak peak of the new banners,” the email reads.
After the email was sent out, people on social media shared concerns about the YMCA’s plans. Cambridge Association of Neighborhoods President Chuck McFadden said in an interview that when he saw the email, he was “taken aback,” and he said the news was “buried” in an email about banners.
Gill, who has received emails and phone calls from concerned residents since the email went out, said the YMCA is advocating the need to build a new YMCA. He said the existing site is not sustainable over the next two decades and can’t provide certain programs, amenities and services.
“We are trying to help frame a narrative because, right now, you have other people that are framing narratives that are just wrong,” he said.
Gill said the emails and phone calls expressing concerns with the YMCA’s hopes to move to Cambridge Harbor have not made him reconsider those plans. He said the YMCA had a market study completed, which tested three sites for a new YMCA in Dorchester County, and Cambridge Harbor tested as the strongest site.
”We’re trying to help people understand that if you did build a YMCA in the right location, that it could serve up to 7,000 people and 1,000 people a day,” he said.
FUTURE PLANS
CWDI plans to issue another request for proposals in the fall for the second phase of the Cambridge Harbor project. Leonard said CWDI has made it clear to the respondents of the 2022 request for proposals that it will be issuing the new request in the fall.
“And if they’re interested in having a place at Cambridge Harbor, they need to respond to that RFP,” Leonard said.
Leonard said the YMCA “to some extent” fits the goal of having Cambridge Harbor benefit the community through offering things for the public to enjoy, like activity spaces.
“But we also understand there may be others,” Leonard said about potential site partners.
The fate of the Cambridge YMCA has been a topic of conversation in the community for nearly a year. In July, Gill said that the YMCA began considering moving the facility following its market study. In late August, CWDI included a design for a new YMCA facility at the Cambridge Harbor site in its 2023 mid-year report, which sparked concerns from residents.
In October, the city council passed three ordinances that essentially limit institutional uses on the the YMCA’s 201 Talbot Ave property in the event the YMCA were to move.
Gill and Leonard have both repeatedly said that there is no deal between CWDI and the YMCA to move the Cambridge facility to Cambridge Harbor. At a CWDI community update meeting April 18, Leonard said CWDI was not currently negotiating with the YMCA, and Gill said in an interview at the same event that there were no new developments with the Cambridge YMCA.
Although Leonard and Gill say there is no deal, Leonard said that CWDI paid for design plans to be drawn up of the YMCA’s Talbot Avenue property if the YMCA were to move. He said that CWDI was asked by “some members of the community” what it would do with the Talbot Avenue property if CWDI received it. Leonard said CWDI would propose infill residential development to match the neighborhood.
”While we were having some of the Cambridge Harbor project design, we had our designer do a quick sketch of what that might look like,” he said.
Though the Talbot Avenue property is not on the Cambridge Harbor site and CWDI’s mission is to develop Cambridge Harbor, Leonard said CWDI is allowed to make deals to develop Cambridge Harbor “that sometimes might include other properties” per its charter.
Gill, who has seen CWDI’s design plans, said the YMCA has not had any conversations with the city or potential developers about the redevelopment of the Talbot Avenue property.
“We just believe, based on the size of the site, it could be redeveloped to generate tax revenue that could be helpful,” he said.
Gill said the YMCA will host Triangle2, the firm that completed the YMCA’s market study, at its Cambridge location at 5 p.m. on June 18 to present data from the market study. The meeting will be open to Cambridge YMCA members.
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