The Insiders
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Feb
5
CP&D Open Houses Galore
Posted by: Alex Lougheed | February 5, 2010 | 6 Comments
This is a little last minute, but if you want to be heard about the future of housing on campus, as well as the future of the heart of campus (the University Boulevard area, as well as McInnis Field and the current bus loop), there are two open houses forthcoming. All you need to do is show up:
1. Public Open House • UBC Student Housing Demand Study
Date: Friday, February 5th
Time: 2:30 pm – 3:30pm
Local: SUB 211
A follow-up to this study, which among other things, states that 43% of students living off campus would live on campus if they had the choice. Learn about the study and provide your input regarding the study and next-steps.
2. Public Open House • University Boulevard Neighbourhood
Date: Monday, February 8th
Time: 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
Local: SUB Concourse
Long ago, there was a design competition to redo the University Boulevard Neighbourhood (solid line). It’s been about six years since that design competition finished. Since then, the winning architects have disappeared, their replacement also disappeared, an underground bus loop has disappeared, and in the chaos, a 120 million dollar Student Union Building, and an Olympic-sized pit of mud have appeared.
Despite most of the original plan’s premises disappearing, the model of the neighbourhood remains the same. This open house seems to be a welcome acknowledgment of “ok, crap, what now”. Further, the ‘study area’ includes much much more than the University Boulevard Neighbourhood–going all the way to the current bus loop (where future plans are still undecided). It’ll be very interesting to see what’s on display.
Comments
6 Comments so far
Come one come all! Need not remind you of what happens when I’m the only one who shows up…
https://blogs.ubc.ca/ubcinsiders/2009/09/03/st-john-hospice/
Also, follow along future CP&D events here:
http://www.planning.ubc.ca/news__events/calendar_of_events/
One thing that is interesting is that this study area also includes the ‘East Campus Neighbourhood’ for which there is an approved neighbourhood plan in place and involved building a lot of housing (market and mixed) on top of MacGinnis (sp?) Field, the parking lot by the Admin Building, and what is currently the diesel bus loop. According to the old OCP East Campus Area is part of the UNA zone and was to be non-institutional housing/development like Mid-Campus, South-Campus, and the Theological Precinct. It will be interesting to see how the thinking may be changing in face of UBC Properties giving up the farm site and where they now want to put student housing.
Charles is spot on with this one. That was, personally, one of my least favorite plans, because it was clear it grew stale as it sat on the shelf. There’s a great opportunity to make East Campus/Gage South a hub of student-activities, due to the proximity to most of campus’s current and future student recreational amenities. All we need to do is learn from the lessons of Hampton and Hawthorne.
To build mixed/market in that area would be a missed opportunity to make UBC’s first senior student residential hub. As we learned from other parts on campus, to ‘mix’ young-20 student with other-use housing requires a barrier between the communities. Doing that around what could be a strong community focal point (McInnis Field) would be a shame.
I also wonder if an expansion of the SRC is still on the table, or if the current thinking of annexing the current SUB precedes that.
Expansion of the SRC is not on the table. Even if it was, the “expansion” would likely take the form of a second SRC located near the arena and tennis centre, not an addition onto the current one near UBlvd.
Other capital projects (some debt from arena, Tennis Centre, turf field at the stadium) preclude such a big project right now without instituting a new student fee like what was done for the current SRC. It goes without saying there’s absolutely no chance of that happening right now.
Co-opting part of the current SUB for more recreation space would be an ideal outcome for me.
IT would be nice if a Walmart or Costco was built there- would be convienient forstudents.
disappointed that UBLVD has notyet been developed-on par with Oxford and University California Berceley
I don’t know if Berkeley is the best example of how UBC should act. US universities tend to expand by eminent domaining the shit out of local property owners. This tends to be bad. My favorite story is how Cal acquired one of their first year residences:
1) Get the state to shut down a local school for deaf kids because it’s built on a fault line.
2) Buy the condemned school for cheap.
3) Make first-years live in it, don’t mention the fault line.