Last year the Cambridge Kips were instructing students how to flip, land and balance, now they're jumping through hoops just to keep their club alive.
Jason Macintosh, Kips president, thinks the city has not been acting in good faith and accuses them of creating a ruse to kick out the Cambridge gymnastics club to make way for the expansion of the Preston Memorial Auditorium.
"We're going to be gone for a parking lot, how can the city justify effectively shutting down a 50-year-old club for a few parking spaces," said a fired-up Macintosh.
"The club is of the belief that city staff used the ruse of the condition of the Kips building as a means to evict the club from the facility in order to avoid having to disclose some of the negative consequences of the Preston project in their funding applications and to the Cambridge community."
The issue of the Kips vs. the city goes back to Oct. 2021 when the Kips were notified that the City of Cambridge would be terminating their lease due to damages to the facilities.
According to Macintosh, over the past several years a crack in the gymnasium concrete had started forming. The city inspected the crack and was monitoring it for movement.
"It is the club’s view that there is nothing structurally wrong with the building that couldn’t be easily fixed if required," said Macintosh. "The club has funds to repair the building if within reason."
The Kips say the city would not provide the engineering report or tell them how much it would cost to repair the crack and points to a Jan. 20, meeting with the city where staff said they have no obligation to provide the report.
They have since filed a Freedom of Information Request for all reports and calls the withholding of documents a further effort to stonewall the Kips.
On Dec. 3 2021, city council officially approved the renovation of the Preston Aud; less than a week later the Kips received a signed eviction notice by the city.
All of the city councillors voted in favour of the expansion, with Coun, Donna Reid calling it necessary for the future of the city.
“We are going to build a world-class modern facility,” added Reid. “Thanks to everyone in the community who urged us to take this stand and build this facility.”
Mayor Jan Liggett, Coun. Nicholas Ermeta, Coun. Donna Reid, Coun. Mike Devine and Coun. Scott Hamilton who were adamantly in favour of the expansion did not respond to requests for comments about whether the city notified them of the demolition of the Kips facility or the displacement of surrounding clubs.
The construction of the new facility will run the city $26 million and provide the community with two-NHL sized ice pads, but at what cost, said Macintosh.
The Kips have been in Preston at the back of the Aud for more than 40 years and in operation since the 1960s. The club is a non-profit organization that offers gymnastics to the community with a focus on providing affordable recreational and specialty programming.
With the club's uncertain future, they made the hard decision to suspend operation in June 2022, so the athletes would have enough time to find new programs before the season started.
The Kips were optimistic they would be able to come to an agreement with the city and resume operations, but as the lease deadline approached the more unlikely it became.
On Jan. 1, the locks were changed and the Kips were officially no longer in control of the facility, although their equipment is still in the building.
Project manager for the expansion of the Preston Memorial Auditorium Shane Taylor did not respond to a request for comments about the impacts to the clubs but said in a statement to CambridgeToday, the city has consulted with key user groups, stakeholders and the general public to understand the full scope of wants and needs in the community.
"The Council-approved design addresses the majority of the needs that were expressed by the groups while also balancing physical site constraints, community expectations, affordability and operational feasibility," wrote Taylor.
According to Macintosh, the Kips were not notified of the demolition of the building until February of this year. They feel like they have been misled and lied to.
Similarly, the Preston Figure Skating Club and Preston Kinsmen learned the fate of the Kinsmen Centre as a result of the aud expansion last July and has been pleading with the city to save it ever since.
"The city says the did all they could to help us, but I ask what exactly did they do?," Macintosh says.
"All they did was tell us there is no room for us and to contact Morgard for space at the mall."
With the Kips being a non-profit, leasing a space through a real estate company like Morgard would be financially impossible.
Macintosh maintains that the city would have had to know about the demolition of the Kips facility since the beginning of the project in 2020, but they chose not to disclose that information to city council or the public.
The Kips are still fighting the city for financial help to move the equipment out of the facility behind the aud and into storage.
"What we really need is for them to actually help us find a new space," added Macintosh. "Without Kips, the city will lose a valuable resource in the community that help athletes train."
