Cost-Sharing Aquatic Facilities in Langley City and Township

Langley City and Township have a long history of working together on recreation facilities. For example, the City helped fund the construction of McLoead Athletic Park, WC Blair Pool and George Preston Recreation Centre. The City also provided operating funding for booth Blair and McLoead until 2006, when the City exited these agreements and gave up ownership rights of these facilities.

Council recently received a letter from the Township of Langley asking that we work towards a multi-year funding agreement to support aquatic facilities. City and Township residents use aquatic facilities and, more generally, recreational facilities across municipality borders.

For example, about 52% of swimming lessons at Al Anderson Memorial Pool in 2024 were for Township residents, 35% for City residents, and 13% for Surrey residents.

The City of North Vancouver and the District of North Vancouver have a joint funding agreement and operate under the North Vancouver Recreation and Culture brand (even though each community owns and maintains its facilities.) This type of agreement could be a model for Langley City and Township.

At last night's Council meeting, Langley City Council asked our staff to "explore inter-municipal recreation services cost-sharing models, with a focus on aquatic facilities, that may be applicable within the context of the City of Langley and the Township of Langley" and formally reply to the Township to let them know.

I look forward to seeing what's possible and how we can cooperate to provide fair and equitable cost-share of aquatic facilities to benefit residents in both communities.