Eaglecrest Golf Course Reconfiguration Budget: $ More than Doubled

The town of Qualicum Beach holds town hall meetings at which the public is invited to ask questions of council and staff. At the June 17, 2026 meeting a number of questions were asked about the purchase of the Eaglecrest Golf Course. One of the questions asked by a member of the public revealed that the purchase price for the Eaglecrest Golf Course was not $8.5 million, as we were originally told. Rather, the purchase price was the $8.5 million cash plus the issuance by the Town of a charitable tax receipt in the amount of $4,480,000. As you may recall, one of the conditions of the purchase was the rezoning of the lands prior to the completion of the purchase. Presumably, the rezoning resulted in the increase in value, with the Town obtaining an appraisal to support the close to $13 million valuation. The disclosure of the uplift in value of the property and the issuance of the tax receipt at this late date begs the question of whether the Town has been fully transparent about the purchase and properly engaged the public. Further questions would undoubtedly have been asked and, hopefully, answered if this matter had been disclosed prior to the purchase.

Other than the disclosure of the issuance of the tax receipt, little information was given to the public on either the purchase or the revisioning of the Eaglecrest Golf Course. Rather, the attendees at the meeting were told that a robust report would be presented at the June 24, 2026 council meeting and that there would be a lot of detail in the report. Following that announcement, no further questions or comments about Eaglecrest were permitted by the chair of the meeting, Mayor Westbroek. It was then emphasized by the CAO that the purchase of the golf course was a highly transparent process and that the public should wait until the June 24th meeting where there would be a robust discussion around the project. In my mind, this meant that full information on the progress of the revisioning, costs to date and future costs would be provided at the June 24 meeting.

By way of background, a report presented to council at the February11, 2026 meeting stated that the 2026-2030 Financial Plan included a $2.5 million budget provision for "capital expenditures related to the reconfiguration at Eaglecrest and other capital investments to bring the course, facilities and equipment to a suitable operational standard". At that time $1.65 million was authorized to be spent with a proviso that the remaining $850,000 of the $2.5 million budget "may be required to address additional capital priorities, including facility upgrades, equipment renewal and related infrastructure improvements outside of the golf course reconfiguration". Thus, as of February 11, 2026 the budget for bringing the course and facilities into operating condition was $2.5 million, with possibly only $1.65 million actually required.

I attended the June 24 council meeting in anticipation of the promised robust report detailing the extent and cost of the work conducted to date, the extent and estimate of cost of work yet to be done, and whether the project was on budget.

I have to admit that I was rather confused by the June 24 presentation. No detail about the actual revisioning and costs to date were provided. Not the robust report with a lot of detail as promised at the Town Hall meeting. Rather, the presentation focused on the amendment of the 2026 - 2030 Financial Plan Bylaw. There were a number of amendments to the Financial Plan Bylaw, however, the majority were primarily related to the Eaglecrest Golf Course.

In the original 2026 - 2030 budget, the approved Eaglecrest capital budget was $20,683,000, all of which was to be funded from future land sales. This amount included the purchase price of $8.5 million (plus closing costs), $2.5 million for reconfiguration of the golf course, $2.87 million for a roundabout, $1.0 million for parkland improvements, $1.0 million for pedestrian improvements and $2.863 million for storm and water main replacements. In the amendment proposed on June 24, this amount is increased to $21,199,800. An increase of $716,800. Not an insubstantial amount. However, this is misleading as two projects in the Eaglecrest neighbourhood (Storm Main Replacement in the amount of $1,750,000 and AC Watermain Replacement in the amount of $1,113,000) that were originally included as part of the purchase strategy, and promised as a benefit of the purchase, are no longer part of the project. They have been removed from the Eaglecrest budget with funding now purportedly from reserves. As a result, the increase in the budget, over and above the original $2.5 million, for just the revisioning (ie. the amount to make the course operational) is $3,579,800. This amount as set forth in the proposed amendment is composed of $100,000 (added to the original $2.5 million budget for making the course operational), $2.3 million (for rehabilitation of amenities, maintenance building, rainwater capture system, golf course equipment), $175,000 (added to the $625,000 budgeted for land servicing) and $1,004,800 as a project contingency. Whether the other items included in the $21,199,800 budget will experience similar "inflation" is unknown. We can only wait and see.

To clarify: the original budget to make the course operational was $2.5 million. Obviously, this amount was not enough. Hence, the additional $100,000. However, it does not stop there. An additional $2.3 million is needed for further works. The exact nature of the further works was not detailed at the meeting. In any event, it appears that the works originally budgeted at $2.5 million to make the course operational was insufficient and further works, to the tune of $2.3 million, are required. But, just in case that is not enough, add in another $1,004,800 as a contingency. Does the Town think that its estimates are still that far off? Also, the actual amount of the contingency ($1,004,800) curious. Why not just a round number of $1,000,000 since it is presumably for an unknown future expense? In any event, the bottom line is that the budget to make the course operational is now $6,079,800, almost two and one-half times the original budget of $2.5 million. To be fair, the additional $175,000 for land servicing and some of the $1,004,800 contingency may not be required to make the course operational so, perhaps, the new budget may only be about twice the original budget.

No explanation or particulars were provided at the June 24 meeting as to the reason for the increased budget, other than some comments about the discovery of deficiencies in the infrastructure as the revisioning proceeded. In particular, the ageing irrigation system and the condition of the clubhouse building were noted. In my view, any deficiencies should have been identified during the due diligence conducted prior to the purchase (rather than after, as it appears is occurring) and been dealt with by a reduction of the purchase price or, in the event, the deficiencies were substantial, walking away from the purchase.

The June 24 meeting failed to provide the expected information about the Eaglecrest project. The promised "reporting" was lacking in detail with respect to the work completed, the costs to date, the work still to be completed and future costs. We are all familiar with the common refrain "on budget, on time". I cannot recall the timeline proposed by council for the reopening of the golf course so am not certain of whether the project is on time. However, the amendment of the budget gives a whole new meaning to "on budget". The costs have skyrocketed from the initial $2.5 Million initially disclosed to the public to over $6 Million. Can we expect to see another budget amendment in the future if this amount is not enough? When will we know the actual cost? The answer to that question is anyone's guess given the current transparency and disclosure coming from Council. The public deserves better.

James Noel

June 26, 2026

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More Info

Link to June 24th council meeting ( starts on page 241)

Link to Letter sent to Mayor and Council prior to the the June24th 2026 meeting