The GVRD Board of Directors has determined UBC’s proposed South Campus Neighbourhood Plan is in compliance with the University’s Official Community Plan. The GVRD vote took place on Friday October 28. The plan will now proceed to UBC’s Board of Governors in December for final approval.
“UBC demonstrated a thorough community consultation process in developing the South Campus Neighbourhood plan and has shown leadership by trying to create a complete community at UBC,” said, Barbara Sharp, Mayor of the City of North Vancouver and Chair of the GVRD’s Communities Committee.
“We are thrilled by this outcome and congratulate the GVRD for their favourable participation in a major piece of UBC’s strategy to make the region more livable and more sustainable,” said Dennis Pavlich, UBC Vice-President External and Legal Affairs.
South Campus is 40 hectares of land located south of 16th Avenue where UBC’s Point Grey Campus tapers into the woods. South Campus is the largest of University Town’s seven new residential neighbourhoods and will become home to some 4,000 people in 1,989 residences — adding a significant work-study population to the university, one of B.C’s largest employment centres.
South Campus is conceived as a pedestrian-oriented village in the forest — a relatively dense development integrated within a wooded setting. Homes will include two and three-story townhomes, four-storey apartments and 18-storey apartment buildings. A 65,000 square foot mixed use village centre will straddle Wesbrook Mall and will feature retail shops as well as professional, institutional and residential space. A 180-suite seniors’ living facility is planned, as are a public school and a community centre.
Highlights of the neighbourhood plan include:
- Implementation of green building design standards using UBC’s unique Residential Environmental Assessment Program (REAP).
- Mixed use commercial village and mixed density housing that supports a range of needs with an emphasis on achieving a 50 per cent work-study population with faculty and staff rental and market housing.
- A school for families in the neighbourhood, adjacent areas of campus and the University Endowment Lands.
- Safe and innovative infrastructure systems including alternative energy and waste management systems.
- Design of ‘green streets’ intended for pedestrians, bicycles and other non-motorized vehicles, where storm water retention and infiltration, habitat space, and social interaction are accommodated.
About University Town
University Town is transforming UBC from a commuter campus to a work-study community and will contribute in excess of $500 million to the UBC endowment, which funds research, scholarships, bursaries and academic infrastructure. Seven new residential and mixed-use neighbourhoods will increase the campus’ permanent population to approximately 18,000 residents by 2021 and will include student, faculty, and staff housing, university-related shops and services, parks, a community centre, a school and a range of public amenities.
South Campus aims to be a vibrant, complete, ecologically sensitive neighbourhood that contributes to the larger UBC community, supports the University’s sustainable development objectives, and furthers the GVRD’s Livable Region Strategic Plan.
To view the Draft South Campus Neighbourhood Plan please visit: www.planning.ubc.ca/corebus/pdfs/pdf-landuse/SCNP_Jan24-05_Draft.pdf.
For further information on University Town please visit: www.universitytown.ubc.ca.
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