UBC released an updated land use plan at the October Board of Governors meeting which would add 9,500 neighbourhood housing units, enough to house 20,800 people, by 2050.
The Land Use Plan, last updated in 2011, is the regulatory document outlining UBC’s long-term intentions for the Point Grey campus; all land use decisions made by UBC must, by law, be consistent with the plan.
Central campus will see the most change. The existing Thunderbird stadium is to be replaced with housing neighbourhoods, and a new replacement stadium to be built on East Mall.
The area around the existing Thunderbird stadium will be rezoned from ‘Green Academic', meaning areas predominantly consisting of outdoor open space, to ‘Academic,’ a classification given to areas intended for research and teaching buildings or housing.
Michael White, associate vice president for campus and community planning, said consultation has shown the greatest community concern is housing.
The plan aims to add 20,800 neighbourhood housing spaces, which consists of market rental, leasehold ownership and non-market rental housing, but does not include student housing.
“We did the most extensive engagement that the university has conducted for a planning process through Campus Vision ... The biggest priority we heard was the need for more housing and housing affordability."
The two planned neighbourhoods, Stadium and Acadia, and the expansion of Wesbrook Place and Hawthorn Place will look very different to the existing campus resident neighbourhoods.
The current tallest building is 54 metres in Hawthorne Place, but new buildings will reach up to 105 metres and 84 metres in Stadium and Acadia, respectfully. The vertical expansion will create an extra 7.1 million square feet of gross buildable area for residences, a 76 per cent increase.
The plan also committed to housing 25 per cent of the full-time student population on campus, which could increase to 33 per cent depending on available funding, sites and demand. Only 40 per cent of this new capacity is guaranteed to be rented to the UBC community.
However, the plan has been publicly criticized by Governor Charles Menzies for “funnelling contracts & land parcels into the Vancouver development machine.”
According to Menzies, the amount of usable neighbourhood open space (UNOS) in these new developments could be up to 50 per cent lower than under the current Land Use Plan provided there is "appropriate resident access to UBC-owned open spaces and facilities."
White said this was just one measure of open space which does not account for open space in other areas of campus, and that the headline UNOS figure, which is comparable to other municipalities, has not changed.
In a statement to The Ubyssey, Menzies wrote “housing on campus should be 100% oriented toward faculty, staff, student housing and then secondarily to supportive non-market housing.”
For Menzies, it is essential for UBC to “use their land holdings to increase the supply of all forms of housing,” instead of leasing land for private development.
White emphasized there would still be 3,300 new student beds as a result of the plan, an expansion of the discounted faculty and staff rental program, which offers, on average, a 20 per cent rent discount and an expansion of the rent-geared to income program.
SkyTrain still in the works
The plan envisions a SkyTrain station built “in the general area of University Boulevard and Money and Raymond M.C. Lee Square,” as well as an additional station serving the southern area of campus.
However, the stations are not planned to be completed until 2035, at latest, and with a large increase in the number of people leaving campus, given there will be 10,000 more on-campus residents by 2030. White said UBC has been lobbying TransLink for more bus services.
The plan also proposed reducing commuter parking spaces on campus once “alternatives are developed.” However, White clarified this would not occur until there are “meaningful alternatives such as the construction of SkyTrain.”
Naming criticism
Menzies has also criticized other areas of the plan, specifically the name of Acadia being chosen for the new residential neighbourhoods due to its colonial implication.
Menzies also wrote UBC is excluding “significant Indigenous communities that aren’t title holders under the campus.” Menzies critiqued UBC’s decision to guarantee that only 15 per cent of newly built housing would be available for staff and that the plan failed to define what constituted ‘affordable housing.
White said concerns around the name Acadia were not raised during the consultation UBC undertook with First Nations Groups before publishing the proposed plan, but added the university is "looking into that now."