Fact Check: The Willoughby Community Centre Mystery
I stumbled upon an interactive “mystery” about the Willoughby Community Centre the other day. It is a Strong Towns Langley project, and it’s built around an important question: what is happening with the Willoughby community centre and indoor pool?
The point of the Strong Towns Langley simulation is to present the Willoughby Community Centre question as an “investigation” and to guide residents through a curated set of public documents and claims as framed by the project, with the general theme of following the decision-making and funding trail. It’s a fun, creative format for media delivery, but for this post I’m treating it mainly as a prompt to verify what the Township’s own public record says.
I wanted to see what’s in the record, as I understand it, in plain black and white. So I pulled up the following Township public documents: the project page, the May 2024 open house boards, the draft annual reports, the 2024 draft budget presentation deck, and the public procurement listing associated with the project.
Did the Township publicly present plans for a location and specific amenities for the Willoughby Community Centre?
Fact Check: True
When I opened the Township’s Willoughby Community Centre page, the Township lists what is “presently planned,” including a new community aquatic centre with a 37.5m lap pool, leisure and hot pool, fitness facility, gymnasium, library, multipurpose rooms, and other supporting recreation spaces.
The May 2024 open house boards are consistent with that overall concept and also place the facility at South Yorkson Community Park facing 80 Avenue.
This is the baseline point I wanted to confirm before getting into timelines: the Township has publicly described both the core amenities and the intended location. What this does not answer is when the facility will be built or how far along it is.
Have the Township’s annual reports shown the project moving beyond the study/design phase?
Fact Check: Not according to the draft annual reports reviewed
In the Township’s draft annual reports for 2023 and 2024, the Willoughby Community Centre / indoor pool is listed in a table of “Future Priority Projects.” In both years, the status beside the project is “Study/Design.”
So, based on what the Township is publishing in its annual reports, it is not describing this as a project that has moved into an approved build phase. These tables also do not say “construction starts on X date,” and they do not give a build schedule.
I also looked for signs of a move into construction, and while there was a contract posting to hire the main construction firm (RFP 25-100), the public listing shows it as “Terminated” with no reason provided, and public procurement listings do not necessarily disclose the reasons for termination.
Has the budget for the construction of the community centre been reduced?
Fact Check: True, but the document does not explain what changed
In the Township’s 2024 Draft Budget Presentations PDF, a footnote states: “Based on current requirements Willoughby Community Centre capital project has been reduced.”
That is an important development, but the document doesn’t provide any more information on the reduction. When I first read it, my immediate question was: reduced how, and compared to what? The budget does not answer these questions of scope, phasing, timing, funding assumptions, or why “current requirements” changed.
In my view, the public record leaves it hard for residents to tell what the next concrete step is. The Township has described a big facility and kept engagement going, but the most important “so what now?” details are scattered across different documents and not stitched into a clear public update. I’m hoping the Township publishes a clear, resident-friendly update that ties the key documents together and explains what happens next.