Langford’s decision to discontinue City Centre splash park receives pushback

A group of Langford residents are criticizing the city’s decision to remove a splash pad at a Langford park.

Langford Voters for Change, a local Facebook group, shared a post expressing their frustration with the decision to shut down City Centre Park’s splash pad and with councillors making it in an in-camera meeting.

Nicole Polet, a member of the group, took her toddler out to the splash park last year and talked about how disappointed she is now that the splash park is shutting down.

“We really enjoyed it, I was looking forward to bringing him back this year. So I was pretty disappointed to hear it was shutting down,” said Polet.

A spokesperson for the city said that the splash park needed significant repairs and that it would cost over $300,000. This led to councillors deciding to not reopen the park for this summer and shut it down for good.

“The splash park change is permanent. The repairs that are going to be needed are going to require quite a cost and the removal of the concrete in that area,” said Yari Nielsen, Langford manager of parks and recreation.

However, what frustrated residents like Polet is the fact that the decision was made in an in-camera meeting.

A city spokesperson said that the in-camera meeting was justified under section 90.1(e) of the B.C. community charter. The bylaw states that councillors can close part of a meeting if  it deems that disclosing changes to land might harm the city.

The spokesperson also added that the spray park was “greatly” declining in use (pre-COVID) since newer and larger purpose-built spray parks were added within residential areas around Langford. The city currently still has four other spray parks, and has plans to build another one in the Bear Mountain Village area.

All hope for the discontinued splash pad isn’t lost. Councilor Lillian Szpak now says the city should reconsider it’s decision to permanently remove the water park.

“I would love to see that pirate ship moved. Find another spot for it nearby and put in another spray park because people are coming to city center park expecting a spray park. So I would expect that we will look at other options,” said Szpak.

The City Centre water park area is now being used as extra space for the Patio37 restaurant.

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