In July of last year, we introduced Mike Thomson, the president of Langley United Soccer Association (LUSA) and longtime political ally of Mayor Woodward. Thomson’s most enduring campaign image is this one, celebrating election night arm in arm with Mayor-elect Eric Woodward and future LUSA partner Marcel Horn. But now, Thomson has a new legacy in the making: a $154.7 million taxpayer-funded sports complex of which his organization will be the primary beneficiary. The Smith Athletic Park Youth Soccer Campus is a four-field mega-facility to be built on publicly owned land in Willoughby, funded by Township taxpayers and record levels of debt.

The numbers are staggering: $154.7 million if all phases are completed – up from $40 million when first proposed. Township officials have boasted that Langley will soon be home to one of the premier soccer facilities in all of B.C. They’re not wrong. A fact check reveals that there is no comparable facility in the region other than the National Soccer Development Centre at UBC. That high-performance complex, built for the Vancouver Whitecaps and university teams, cost $33 million, with the BC government providing half the funding. Langley’s version is five times that and it’s not for pros, but for local youth leagues. It’s a level of investment usually reserved for national training centres. But in Langley, the national-scale facility is to be paid for solely by Township residents.

Councillor Richter, a longtime fiscal watchdog on council, has been raising alarms throughout the process. During budget discussions and public meetings, she asked: “Has any discussion taken place with School District 35?” Staff’s answer: “We brought it to their attention but do not have their position.” “What is the total cost?” Staff’s answer: “$154.7 million if all phases are completed.” Richter summed it up bluntly: “So we started out with a $40 million project that’s now up to $154.7 million. I just don’t know where the money is going to come from, we can’t keep borrowing like this.” She questioned whether the Township should be committing to such massive debt without guarantees and warned that council is treating borrowing like an unlimited credit card.

As we reported previously, Mike Thomson was one of Mayor Woodward’s most visible supporters during the 2022 campaign. Now his organization is poised to benefit from the largest recreational investment in Township history and with barely any public consultation. Meanwhile, the mayor’s allies on council have waved the project through, offering few serious objections despite the ballooning budget.

Even the school district, whose land sits next to the planned site, has yet to officially sign on. So what Langley taxpayers are funding is a megaproject championed by a political friend, built for an organization that backed the mayor, funded through loans and development fees and rising in cost with every council vote. Is it visionary planning or a monument to backroom politics? The answer may depend on whether you’re holding the cheque or the shovel.

Township council documents from February 26, 2024, reveal that the escalating cost was caused in part because of specifications requested directly by LUSA. Facilities such as offices, soccer training spaces, storefronts, internal and external raised viewing areas, and food services were included specifically because the soccer association asked for them. According to the Township document, these additions alone added 11,300 square feet and an estimated $5 million to the cost.

The same staff report also let slip that the schedule of the project was driven by LUSA’s desire for the opening to coincide with a  “a significant milestone for the association”. Who is really in charge of this massive project: the Township, or a 3rd party organization? 

If this is what staff are willing to admit in writing, it raises the question of what was discussed behind closed doors. The Township staff report does not discuss the pros and cons of LUSA’s requests – it appears to accept them at face value. The project’s unprecedented scale and lack of partnerships could lead taxpayers to conclude that this is a purpose-built complex shaped around the needs of one organization headed by friends of Eric Woodward. 

That level of customization also aligns with what the Fraser Valley Current reported in 2023: “The indoor field facility is expected to house LUSA’s offices, meeting rooms and training space.” LUSA Executive Director Marcel Horn spoke in glowing terms at length about the project.

This massive civic facility appears tailored from the start to the desires of LUSA. The design choices, the amenities, the cost, all paid for by the taxpayer while LUSA is the main user group to benefit. The Township isn’t simply expanding recreation infrastructure, it is delivering a custom-built soccer campus that is dramatically more expensive than anything else in BC.

As the project moves forward, residents may want to consider how the $155 million expense will impact current and future taxpayers, and whether concentrating it all into one project for one user group – which is primarily organized through one organization – is an equitable use of funds.