Langford was not beginning to cut the cord with West Shore Parks and Recreation when it voted to stop helping Colwood and Highlands pay their portion of Q Centre costs, Mayor Stew Young said Friday.
But the move has raised questions about whether Langford is outgrowing its relationship with the intermunicipal society.
Now that Langford has several of its own recreational facilities, which are used by residents of neighbouring municipalities, Young said it is not fair for Langford to continue paying almost half of municipal contributions toward the society. “The public in Langford is questioning why they’re paying for all this recreation,” Young said. “I don’t have a great answer for them.”
It might be time to revisit an old demand, he said: Get rid of the veto system in favour of majority-rules, so that new projects can get off the ground within West Shore Parks and Recreation.
On Monday, Langford council voted to stop supporting Colwood and Highlands in their debt servicing costs for the arena.
The arrangement dates back to a 2003 Langford council resolution to pay Colwood $96,440 and Highlands $13,172 each year for 20 years.
At the time, Langford was keen to see what was then called the Bear Mountain Arena built, but a series of roadblocks stopped that from happening. Langford agreed to pay extra to get it started after Metchosin declined to participate. The landscape has changed significantly. In the past six years, Langford has spent about $30 million on local recreational facilities, including fields, a fitness centre at Bear Mountain and a new YMCA/YWCA. “We wanted [West Shore Parks and Recreation] to engage, 10 years ago, in more capital projects. They kept getting voted down,” Young said.
The governance structure requires unanimous approval from member municipalities, giving each the power of a veto over every project.
“Langford’s focus was, let’s just build it ourselves,” Young said.
But it continued to pay up to half of the municipal contributions to West Shore Parks and Recreation, based on a formula involving property assessments.
In 2014, Langford paid $2.39 million toward a total pot of $4.76 million.
Young said Langford’s own facilities should be taken into account.
“If we build $30 million worth of recreation and West Shore builds zero in the last five years, then Langford's costs should go down at West Shore and maybe the others should go up,” he said.
Linda Barnes, chief administrator of West Shore Parks and Recreation, said Langford is paying its fair share.
Although Langford pays between 40 and 50 per cent of municipal fees, its residents make up about 55 per cent of facility users at the Q Centre and Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre.
Colwood Coun. Rob Martin, who chairs the West Shore Parks and Recreation Society, acknowledged that the society couldn’t keep up with Langford’s demand.
“Langford has continued to build their population base,” Martin said.
“West Shore Parks and Recreation, on its own, isn’t able to serve the Langford population completely.”
But he said it wouldn’t make sense for other municipalities to subsidize Langford-specific developments directly, since they wouldn’t have any say in what happens.
Martin said he has received positive messages from Langford about its future in the society and the society values its membership. “Without a doubt, Langford is a critical part of West Shore Parks and Recreation,” he said.
Young said Langford would be happy to see the governance structure change. Instead of a veto system, which allows any single municipality to block a project, he said a majority-rules agreement would allow for further, collaborative development.
“All they need to do is get a new governance model to ensure Langford is treated more fairly,” Young said.
