Thursday, January 31, 2019 ~ LANGFORD
~ West Shore Voice News
Stadium expansion will be finished on time and on budget. That’s the usual style of business getting done around Langford.
The feat of getting Westhills Stadium ready for the opening game of the Pacific FC soccer inaugural season in April 2019 will be no exception.
So says Langford Mayor Stew Young who has for years envisioned stadium expansion to support sports — rugby, football and soccer — and also soon some summer outdoor concerts.
Part of achieving that has been a long process of deliberating with BC Hydro to relocate some hydro poles and lines. Meanwhile, seating construction on other sides of the stadium has moved ahead.
Stew Young envisions big attractions for local and regional fans like seeing the BC Lions play here as well as the Seattle Seahawks and some international soccer teams.
Bringing those sorts of larger attractions to Langford is all part of the continual rollout that the city’s long-time mayor manifests as part of continual economic development.
Langford Council has approved a $7 million budget for stadium expansion for the bleachers and hard structures and $1.8 million for the earthworks, plaza creation, landscaping and parking lot on the west side of the stadium field.
“The expansion includes three new covered bleacher sets,” says Cory Manton, Manager Parks and Recreation, City of Langford. “Two of the new bleachers will be adjoined to the existing grandstand on the south side of the field and one new bleacher set on the west side of the field,” he was excited to report.
There will be about 2,400 new seats in the three bleacher-sets. New individual seats will also be mounted on the current bench seating in the existing grandstand.
The bleacher sets on the south side of the field will include eight new suites, washrooms, concession and storage. On the west end there will be seating, locker rooms, washrooms, concessions and storage. There will be 1,000 temporary bleacher seats on each of the east and west ends of the playing field for soccer matches to create seats for 2,000 more venue guests.
On the north side of the field under the transmission lines the City has received permission from BC Hydro to have 400 spectators (no children) within an enclosed area with tables and chairs that are not permanent and must be removed between events.
The pond area on the west side of the field will be reduced to accommodate a larger expanded plaza area and 160+ new parking spots are being created between the stadium site west toward Goudy Field.
The new bleachers on the south side of the field will be complete in late April 2019 in time for that first Pacific FC game. The stand on the west end will be in construction from May through July followed by final plaza treatment, parking lot and landscaping through the summer.
As first published on page 1 in the January 25, 2019 weekend digest issue of West Shore Voice News.