Emotions ran high as the City of Langford made its decision on the offer to purchase the Westhills YW/YMCA Langford Aquatic Centre for $35 million.
After over an hour of public participation at a meeting on Monday (Dec. 16), where the majority of residents spoke against the proposal as it stands, councillors voted unanimously in favour of buying the building and its parking lot.
The $35 million purchase is believed to be the biggest in the city’s history.
Interest on a $20 million loan from the Municipal Finance Authority of BC for the purchase – which will be repaid over a period of five years – will push the total cost to $37.5 million.
As a result of the repayments of the short-term loan, residents will incur an annual property tax increase of 1.75 per cent from 2025 to 2028.
Echoing comments made in previous meetings, residents appealed again for a referendum on the decision.
Others said they felt councillors were rushing the decision and should take more time.
“This doesn’t sound like a thorough, strategic analysis, where several courses of action were explored in depth, it’s more like a shotgun wedding,” said Mike Wignall.
In contrast to the negative feelings of residents in the council chambers, according to Coun. Keith Yacucha, the city has seen a more positive response through other public engagement exercises.
"We've received hundreds of emails, probably the most that I've received from any other topic that we've come across," said Yacucha.
"So far over 70 per cent of that correspondence has expressed support for this purchase," he continued.
But the atmosphere remained tense in the chambers, with one resident shouting, "Looks like the Grinch came for Christmas," as he stormed out of the meeting while Yacucha was speaking.
One member of the public was asked to leave the meeting after he interrupted councillors’ discussions twice, yelling at them to call a referendum.
Mayor Scott Goodmanson praised the amount of public input the city has received, acknowledging their decision was not going to please everybody.
“The hard part of this job is knowing that when you make a decision, you could be hurting someone,” he said.
“But the information I received, the majority of people have said they would like us to go ahead and purchase the facility,” he continued.
Discussions about the future of the aquatic centre have been ongoing since Nov. 4, when the city went public with the news owners Westhills had approached them with the offer to sell.
The city was told the YW/YMCA is expected to be unable to cover an estimated $14.8 million for "lifecycle costs" over the next 17 years. In February 2023, the leisure provider reported it has lost over $10 million since the centre opened in 2016.
As the YW/YMCA’s "financial guarantor”, the city would be liable for the $14.8 million, if the organization fails to pay. This would be in addition to the city’s annual subsidy of $1.9 million to the YW/YMCA.
The city had until Dec. 17 to make a decision, otherwise Westhills said it would withdraw the offer and explore other options for the building.
Consultants hired by the city have said purchasing the building could bring savings of $10.2 million over the next 17 years, the remainder of the YW/YMCA’s service agreement.
“It saves millions for future taxpayers, insures continued access to recreation for all and secures the sustainability of our community facilities,” said Yacucha. “It’s a decision that puts Langford on a stronger, more stable path for generations to come.”
Langford will take possession of the building and parking lot on April 1, 2025, subject to a due diligence period.
