The Town of Sidney has decided not to support a proposed regional loan of up to $14.2 million intended to help build a new indoor recreation facility in Central Saanich. Sidney town council voted 4-3 against the proposal on May 11, 2026, effectively stopping the project from moving forward in its current form.
The Capital Regional District had requested the loan to fund a 10,000-square-foot recreation centre at 1882 Hovey Road, which was planned as part of a larger municipal complex in Central Saanich. The proposal came from the Capital Regional District’s Peninsula Recreation Commission, an organization that manages recreation services for approximately 42,000 residents across Sidney, North Saanich, and Central Saanich, along with four local First Nations.
Because the project relied on shared regional funding, all three municipalities needed to consent to the borrowing plan for it to proceed. Following the vote in Sidney, the project faces further uncertainty after North Saanich council also voted 4-3 on May 11, 2026, to defer its decision on the loan bylaw.
If the project had gone ahead, residents would have seen an increase in their property taxes to cover the borrowing costs. The estimated annual impact per household would have been $47.36 for Sidney taxpayers, $73.19 for those in North Saanich, and $61.66 for residents in Central Saanich.
While Central Saanich is currently the only municipality among the three without its own indoor, purpose-built recreation centre, the vote in Sidney highlights a division over the proposed regional funding model. During the May 11 meeting, Mayor Cliff McNeil-Smith and councillors Chad Rintoul and Sara Duncan voted in favour of the borrowing. Councillors Richard Novek, Terri O’Keefe, Scott Garnett, and Steve Duck voted against the measure.
Central Saanich had offered the land for the new facility at no cost as part of its own broader civic redevelopment project, which is also set to house the municipality’s police station, fire station, and municipal hall.
