D’Amato: An inspired idea,

What a brilliant idea for Cambridge. Next week, Mayor Doug Craig will propose consideration of a new life for the shuttered Sears store in the Cambridge Centre mall: Why not turn it into the city’s sports multiplex?

This creative option solves just about every problem that has been raised in the long, tortured debate about where the multiplex should go. Location was one of the key sticking points. Cambridge is a sprawling city of three communities: Galt, Preston and Hespeler. (You could argue that tiny, picturesque Blair makes it 3 ½.)

There are sibling rivalries between these places, and everyone is watching to make sure the multiplex isn’t too far from them and too close to someone else. That’s one reason the discussion was taking so long and was, at times, so argumentative.

But the Cambridge Centre mall shuts down all objections. It is one of the easiest places in the city to get to. If you drive, it’s central to everywhere. If you don’t drive, there’s a new transit station right there with many local and express buses.

Cost is another concern. A community task force has checked other potential locations. But many of them are disappointing because the city would have to clean up waste from previous industrial uses, or build services.

This would take valuable cash away from the $80-million facility itself. The multiplex is meant to have two ice pads with the option to expand to four, three gyms, a 25-metre pool, meeting rooms and a running track.

At the Cambridge Centre Mall, there is already an ice pad, a hall of fame, and lots of parking. The owners are interested in having the multiplex there.

No money would have to be wasted on expropriating land, building services or cleaning up contaminated soil. The vast majority of the funds available can be used for the amenities the people will enjoy.

There isn’t room there for the larger 50metre pool that competitive swimmers have their hearts set on. But there is plenty of room and inexpensive land available for lease at Conestoga College. The college was a controversial choice for the multiplex, because it is not central. But the swimming associations have said they don’t care where the facility is. These families are used to driving long distances for swim meets and practices. A final concern is the economic spinoffs generated by this kind of facility. One reason that many Cambridge residents didn’t like the Conestoga campus was concern that Kitchener hotels and restaurants would reap the benefits of hungry, sleepy athletes from out of town.

The Cambridge Centre mall is at Hespler Road and Bishop Street North, smack-dab in the middle of one of the busiest commercial strips in the city. The centre is crammed with restaurants, shops and hotels. So the city can rest assured that it will get all the business.

Craig said he thinks the idea “will be embraced by the majority of the people.”

While it’s true some people are so filled with rancour that they’d be against anything the mayor proposed, I bet most Cambridge folk will breathe a sigh of relief at his plan.

Craig gave credit to Greg Durocher, president of the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce, who told him about a year ago that the mall would be a good spot for part of the multiplex.

Since then, the Sears store closed, its workers laid off. That sad development has opened an opportunity to the whole city: Not just for a sportsplex they can afford, but also a chance, finally, to bring the community together.