Three outdoor fields at Smith Athletic Park opened in September 2025. Phase Two, including the indoor field and training centre, is now under construction. According to the Township’s latest project update, construction of the wood-arch roof is progressing, with exterior cladding expected to begin during the summer.
I recently saw an online comparison between Smith Athletic Park and a soccer-hub project proposed in Port Coquitlam. The comparison raised some questions for me: What exactly is Langley building? What do the various published cost estimates include? And what do the Township’s public documents say about how the project is being financed?
To better understand those questions, I reviewed the Township’s project materials, the February 2024 approval report, the 2025 capital budget and documents relating to the Township’s new Amenity Cost Charge program. The following is what I found based on those public records.
Did the project price fall from $154.7 million to $129.95 million?
Fact Check: Not necessarily. The public documents show the figures are not directly comparable.
The Township’s project page currently lists a project cost of $129.95 million. That figure is $24.75 million below the $154.7 million figure discussed when Council considered approval of the full project.
However, the February 2024 staff report appears to distinguish between the estimated cost of the park itself and certain related off-site works. The report estimated the park at approximately $135.7 million and identified a further approximately $19 million for roads, stormwater connections and other off-site engineering work, producing a combined figure of approximately $154.7 million.
On that basis, comparing the current $129.95 million figure with the earlier $135.7 million park estimate produces a difference of approximately $5.75 million.
I have not found a detailed reconciliation on the current project page showing precisely which components are included in the $129.95 million figure compared with the earlier estimates. Accordingly, the publicly available figures I reviewed do not establish that the cost of an identical project scope declined by $24.75 million.
Is Port Coquitlam building the same facility for $15 million?
Fact Check: The public documents show the projects are materially different in scope.
Port Coquitlam’s original Gates Park proposal contemplated a synthetic turf field and fieldhouse, together with other associated improvements. Smith Athletic Park is substantially different in scale and configuration. It includes three outdoor fields and a roughly 92,000-square-foot building enclosing a full-sized fourth field, as well as training space, change rooms, food-service and viewing areas.
Port Coquitlam subsequently revised its Gates Park plans. According to the City’s current project information, the partnership with B.C. Soccer is no longer proceeding and the revised project includes a multipurpose synthetic turf field, a 500-seat spectator grandstand, accessible changerooms, four pickleball courts and related park and transportation improvements.
Both projects involve soccer and recreation infrastructure, but their published descriptions indicate materially different facilities and scopes. A comparison based solely on the respective headline project costs therefore does not provide an apples-to-apples comparison.
Can Langley’s new amenity charge repay the amounts already borrowed for Smith Athletic Park?
Fact Check: The public documents appear to show the new mandatory ACC does not apply retroactively to all previously incurred Smith Athletic Park costs.
When Phase One was approved, Township materials indicated that project costs were expected to be funded through development-related revenue sources, including Community Amenity Contributions and Development Cost Charges. Borrowing was nevertheless required because construction expenditures would occur before all anticipated contributions had been collected.
The Township’s 2025 capital budget identified approximately $30.6 million in borrowing associated with Smith Athletic Park and a further approximately $39.3 million associated with Phase Two. The budget identified estimated annual debt servicing associated with those amounts of approximately $4.7 million.
The same budget identified approximately $19.7 million for site preparation and approximately $6.1 million for detention works as DCC-funded expenditures, providing an identified development-charge funding source for those components.
During development of the Township’s new Amenity Cost Charge program, Smith Athletic Park was initially identified with approximately $109.5 million in ACC-eligible costs. The December 2025 staff report subsequently explained that costs incurred before adoption of the ACC bylaw could not be included in the ACC program, even where construction of the broader project continued afterward.
As a result, Township staff removed approximately $70 million associated with Smith Athletic Park from the proposed ACC program, leaving approximately $39.5 million identified as eligible for recovery through the new ACC framework.
Council approved the ACC bylaw on March 23, 2026. According to the Township, the mandatory ACC applies to applications submitted after final adoption of the bylaw. Applications already in stream are not subject to the new mandatory ACC, although the Township’s interim policy provides a mechanism through which voluntary contributions may potentially be negotiated in connection with certain applications.
Township staff estimated that in-stream applications could potentially generate approximately $165 million in contributions. Importantly, that estimate relates to funding for several Township amenities and should not be understood as $165 million specifically allocated or guaranteed for Smith Athletic Park.
Based on the Township documents I reviewed, the approximately $70 million removed from the ACC program cannot simply be recovered retroactively through the new mandatory ACC. Other development-related revenues, including potential voluntary contributions, may ultimately be available to fund or offset some project or debt costs. The amount that will ultimately be received from those sources, and the extent to which it will be applied to Smith Athletic Park, cannot be determined from the public documents I reviewed.