250 is a bigger number than 166 and Why the Performing Arts Centre is in the ICU
It is official, with the release of the 2026 budget report the Willoughby pool cannot be built as designed. The Township of Langley no longer has the funds or credit limit to build and pay for the Willoughby Community Centre and Pool.
In December I wrote the article Willoughby Will Never Get its Pool. As a refresher there is one very important concept: the municipal debt limit. There is a statutory limit on the amount of debt a municipality in the province can take out. A lot like when you apply for a mortgage they look at your ability to pay it, the limit is based on 25% of the Township’s revenue.
This amount of borrowing room left is reported annually by township staff. In the 2026 Township budget just published the limit is down to only $166M.
That is the absolute limit that can be borrowed. Even then you do not run your credit card to the maximum. Municipalities need financial flexibility for emergencies. For instance, 40th Avenue and 248th Street washed out last year and needed emergency spending. Room needs to exist for unplanned future emergencies.
We can take a look at the township ACC bylaws to find all sorts of projects we are looking to build and their estimated prices. There are several that have been promised in the short and intermediate term that we mathematically cannot build.
Several short term promises are mathematically impossible.
- Willoughby Community Centre: $250 million
- Brookswood-Fernridge Community Centre: $200 million
- LEC Concert and Performance Hall: $150 million
Net cost after federal grant: $125 million
The math is simple. $166 million in total borrowing capacity. $250 million price tag for the Willoughby Community Centre. Two hundred fifty is bigger than one hundred sixty-six. Using today’s borrowing capacity, it does not fit.
The Willoughby Community Centre is out. So is Brookswood. The performing arts centre is technically on life support, but only if we spend nearly every dollar of available borrowing capacity and accept zero room for emergencies.
Realistically, we would need a decade of disciplined financial rebuilding before any of these projects can begin without pushing the Township into a dangerous position.
How Did We Get Here?
It’s simple to say ‘financial mismanagement’ but that glosses over a lot of nuance.
I find the following conversation from mayor Woodward’s AMA on Reddit particularly insightful as to what happened. When asked why he prioritized the Smith Athletic Park ahead of the pool this is how Woodward responded:
It is all a priority, but we were left with a lot to deal with. It takes a lot more time for a community centre with the need for a lot more consultation, revisions and public input to make sure it’s what we need, and residents want. That process has been great. Through that, we concluded the existing site was too small to give what our growing community needs, which has led a better Option 2 proposal that’s ready to go, awaiting approval from the Ministry of Infrastructure.
The Smith Athletic Park as a concept for the high school started last term. We were starting from scratch on a community centre, one the most complex capital projects there is for a local government, second to something like the Langley Events Centre.
If everything is a priority then nothing is a priority. Real leadership is picking winners and losers. Governments have finite money and finite credit. Langley needed true leadership through this period to handle our infrastructure deficit and we didn’t get that.
It’s interesting to note in that thread the amount of anger that gets directed towards the soccer campus but very little at the new hockey campus at LEC. Langley and Burnaby are both building ice rinks right now. Burnaby is 2 ice rinks, 2 multipurpose rooms $49M. Langley is 3 ice rinks, 2 dry rinks $158M. (More on the absurdity of the Hockey Rinks in a Future Article).
The ~$100M difference between what Langley and Burnaby are building is not theoretical. That is where the Willoughby pool and performing are centre went. We could have had it all had we just followed Burnaby’s path but choices have consequences.
So Its All Over?
The era of the mega project in Langley is over at least for now. Future councils are going to inherit the math and need to focus on servicing debt and rebuilding borrowing capacity. Large centralized facilities are financially unrealistic under current constraints. Over longer time horizons, borrowing room will expand as revenues rise.
Do not despair though because instead of centralizing large mega projects there is another way to deliver amenities to residents, it’s a concept called incrementalism.
The Strong Towns philosophy asks a simple question. What is the next smallest, most achievable project that delivers real value using existing resources?
Instead of one $250 million mega facility, what can we deliver today?
In The Most Expensive Way to Build a Pool, I outlined a practical path:
- Reopen recreation centres that closed during COVID and never returned.
- Open the cancelled Willoughby Town Centre library space that is currently sitting empty.
- Use the existing park site, which may be too small for a mega complex but is large enough for an aquatics facility.
A recreation centre, library, and aquatics facility can still happen. Just not as a single monument. Willoughby families do not need a headline project. They need access to amenities.
We need 2026 solutions, not 2006 thinking.
As we head into an election year, the ask should be simple. Show us a realistic plan. Show us numbers that add up. Show us projects that fit inside $166 million, not $250 million.
Math does not negotiate.