Cambridge councillor wants Main St. shutdown year-round to boost local businesses

A Cambridge councillor wants to permanently close a section of Main Street to vehicles.

Council is expected to discuss Adam Cooper’s motion at Tuesday’s meeting, in which staff would be asked to put together a report looking at converting Main Street, between Ainslie Street and Water Street, into a pedestrian-only area.

“We'd be crazy not to expand on the overwhelming success we've had of the past closings during the summer,” said Cooper, the councillor for Ward 6. “We've got the beautiful downtown with the architecture, the cultural buildings, we've got the rivers, we've got the churches, and we’ve got the sculpture garden, horticultural garden, the theater. People are starting to come here now.”

If the motion is approved, staff would prepare a report looking at the financial implications and other impacts of creating a permanent pedestrian-only area. It would then be brought forward again at the 2025 Budget and Business Plan meeting.

“Visitors already shop downtown in the colder months and activating Main Street with events and activities would only provide more reasons to enjoy the area throughout the winter season,” Brian Kennedy, the executive director of the Downtown Cambridge Business Improvement Area, explained in an email to CTV News.

Currently, that section of Main Street is closed only seasonally. It’s used for a variety of events, including family fun days, live music, dance nights and markets. Since 2020, Cambridge has shut down the stretch from Ainslie to Water Street from May to October, due to popular demand.

“The majority of feedback from businesses has been positive, with growing support for exploring a year-round pedestrian-only space. At the very least, the BIA fully supports the current investigation into the implications of this idea,” Kennedy said. “Many of our stakeholders support the transformation of Lower Main Street as a positive business initiative for our downtown.”

Cooper said the success of the Gaslight District has shown special events can attract tourists – even in the winter.

“They've proven that in wintertime they don't stop their events, they keep them coming and people will come out,” he explained. “This is Canada, even in the winter, give them a reason, they will come.”

As for the impact on local traffic, for Cooper, it’s worth the trade-off.

“This particular section here, as far as traffic goes, the movement of traffic is not that important. Yeah, we're going to lose a few parking spaces, but the whole idea is this is for the greater good. This is an investment in our businesses, in our downtown,” he said.

The Local Eatery on Main Street in Cambridge on Sept. 16, 2024. (Colton Wiens/CTV News)

The Local Eatery, a restaurant at the corner of Main St. and Ainslie St. S., has seen the impact during the summer shutdown.

“We got so many visitors here,” said owner Jagdeep Kaler.

He’s interested to see if closing the road year-round will make a difference.

“Due to snow, we don't get much customers. But maybe that idea will work," Kaler added.

But not everyone likes the idea.

Tina Maclean runs Hair Your Way, a hair salon on George Street. Since the city started closing Main Street in the summer, she’s observed issues on surrounding roads. She said her customers end up running late for their appointments.

“It's really hard to operate when a whole main street is closed for the whole summer,” Maclean explained.

She’s also seen an impact on the overall traffic in Galt.

“Bottleneck traffic everywhere. People can't get home from work. They're getting home 15 minutes to 45 minutes late and everybody's just upset about it,” Maclean said. “I do think it's a beautiful downtown, but I don't think closing it down for the whole summer is the answer. I like the way they used to do it, where they would close it down on weekends.”

Cooper wants to hear the feedback from all nearby businesses, so he can work with them on making the plan work.

“I think this is going to be mainly for the businesses. If they got on board, then this is going to grow,” he said. “This will just be the beginning.”

“Instead of just passing through, come enjoy our vibrant community events, patios, art installations, and everything the Lower Main Street transformation offers,” urged Kennedy.