City of Cambridge Year in Review: A look back at 2022 accomplishments

Posted on Friday January 20, 2023

Cambridge, Ontario. (January 20, 2023) - At the start of each year, the City of Cambridge celebrates its progress and achievements from the previous year.

As a key component of the City’s corporate performance management framework, the 2022 Year in Review provides a regular progress report on its goals of People, Place and Prosperity through the advancement of 13 strategic actions as outlined in the City’s Strategic Plan: Cambridge Connected.

Within this framework, the City is also able to prepare for next steps with our internal and external stakeholders throughout 2023 and beyond. “Council and staff worked together throughout 2022, implementing services and projects guided by our current Strategic Plan”, said Cambridge Mayor, Jan Liggett. “This work kept us grounded as we continued to move forward all the while endeavouring to achieve the visionary goal of making Cambridge a better place to live, work, play, innovate and invest”

The Year in Review also provides the opportunity to recognize and celebrate the collective accomplishments of Council, City employees, our community partners, committee members and other volunteers. “As I reflect back on 2022, it is with a great sense of pride for the resilience, efforts and accomplishments of our staff,” said City Manager, David Calder. “It was another dynamic year as we continued to adapt to the evolving needs of our residents while continuing to deliver quality services”.

As an annual progress report on the City’s priorities, the Year in Review ensures that the City remains transparent and accountable while delivering high-quality programs and services to the public.

Read the full 2022 Year in Review

 

Key 2022 Strategic Action Highlights include:

 

PEOPLE:

  • Fountain Street Soccer Complex, the expansion of the Cambridge Sports Park arena complex, as well as continued public engagement and design work for the Recreation Complex.
  • Development of the Arts and Culture Master Plan. This strategic document will guide us to achieve goals for developing and enhancing culture services, facilities, public art, programming, and events over the next 10 years.
  • Welcoming back more events, services, and activities. As we continued to safely bring back recreation programming:
    • We welcomed 2,215 registered recreational program participants in 2022, twice as many as in 2021.
    • Our 10-week City of Cambridge summer camp programs included theme weeks, arts, sports, swimming and more. Our spaces quickly filled to 95% capacity with 2,353 campers.
  •  The World Health Organization (WHO) recognized Cambridge as an age-friendly community. The ongoing development of an Older Adult Strategy will create a framework and long-term plan to ensure we are continuing to contribute to an age-friendly community.

 

PLACE:

  • The City celebrated Galt Arena’s 100th anniversary - the world’s oldest continually operating arena - providing nearly 100 different ways for residents to celebrate together throughout the year.
  • Growth continued in Cambridge with 1,565 building permits for a total construction value of $389M.
  • Planning began for Cambridge’s 50th Celebration in 2023, which will include a series of City-led and community-based celebration events and activities. 

 

PROSPERITY:

  • A sought-after destination for filming, InvestCambridge stafffielded 55film inquiries as the City hosted 72 days of filming – resulting in an economic impact estimated at $863,000. Productions included “Longing” starring Richard Gere and the Hulu series “The Handmaid’s Tale”.  
  • Partnered with the Region to expedite approvals for the KW Urban Native Wigwam Project, bringing a new 30-room affordable housing development to downtown Galt. Also continuing to advocate for the local perspective with provincial partners on housing legislation issues as they relate to increasing housing supply and affordability in Cambridge over the next decade.
  • Continued economic recovery support for our core area businesses through the Core Areas Community Improvement Plan (CIP). Over $600K in funding was provided to core area businesses to complete façade improvements, the creation/renovation of commercial space for office and retail uses, as well as residential units, heritage preservation and accessibility improvements.

 

-30-

 

Media Contact

Allison Jones

Supervisor of Communications

jonesa@cambridge.ca

 

About the City of Cambridge

The City of Cambridge is one of the fastest growing areas in the country. With nearly 140,000 residents, Cambridge is the second largest community within Waterloo Region. It is strategically located astride highway 401 in southwestern Ontario, part of the Toronto to Waterloo Region Innovation Corridor. With a multicultural mix and a strong foundation of support services, Cambridge has a diverse economic base with leading industries in advanced manufacturing, automotive, aerospace, nuclear, pharmaceutical, business, and financial services.

For more information about the City and its services, visit www.cambridge.ca. For accessibility accommodations, please contact accessibility@cambridge.ca. To opt out of the news release distribution, email corpcomm@cambridge.ca.