Stage 2 ION gets green light from Cambridge Chamber of Commerce
Posted Apr 27, 2019 12:47:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Cambridge Chamber of Commerce is lending their support for stage two of the ION.
This comes despite the fact that the chamber did not endorse plans for stage one.
So, what's different about stage two?
President and CEO Greg Durocher says the chamber did not lend their support for phase one of the project because they were concerned for the burden it will have on local property tax payers — but it's a different story for phase two.
“When phase two is ready to go, it will be fully funded by the federal and provincial pockets. We think this is good because what this is going to do is spark incredible economic investment along the line, likely seen already in Kitchener and Waterloo.”
He says he is aware of the opposition from Cambridge residents, who are wondering why local buses couldn't be rerouted to cover the routes instead, for a much lower cost — but he says it's not just about moving people.
“It's really about giving confidence to the development industry. So when you embed rails into the ground and in the concrete, there's very little opportunity that's ever going to change. The route's going to be there forever and ever and ever. That gives confidence to people investing along the line.”
He says he feels for the large elderly population that does not want to transition into a bigger, busier, nosier city, but he is urging them to look at the bigger picture.
“First of all, it's going to be many, many years before this project actually gets its rails laid down, the line is starting to move and the train is going up and down. I think the reality of it is, when we look back maybe 20 years from now and say, 'yes, it changed the area,' I think we'll all be able to conclude at that time that it actually changed the community for the better. Growth is happening. There are more people on Earth today than there was yesterday. That's just a normal occurrence that happens.”
He says LRT project is predominantly centred around economic investment into our core areas to help create thriving, attractive places for businesses to relocate.
Stage two of the ION will help create a continuous LRT system across the region's three urban centres, from Kitchener to Cambridge.
