It’s been a bit quiet around Insiders lately: writing long posts take work, and we’d rather be enjoying the sunshine. But that doesn’t mean things have stopped happening. Make sure to check out AMS Confidential’s News for N00bs for the latest news (and lulz!); rather than overlap, we’ll come up with our own alliterative title and report even hackier things for you. Without further ado…
Category: Development
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UBC, Metro Van to ‘divorce’
An “amicable divorce.” This is what UBC VP External, Legal and Community Relations Stephen Owen is calling the most recent development in the university’s battle with Metro Vancouver over land use on campus. Decisions on property development will no longer be made by Metro Vancouver, but will now rest in the hands of the provincial government—something that UBC is more than pleased about.
If Bill 20 (see Part 3—Community and Rural Development Amendments), which is going through Parliament at the moment, passes, the decision-making power on land-use planning at UBC will be transferred to the province’s Ministry of Community and Rural Development. From there, the province will engage in a consultation with stakeholders (me, you, a dog named Blue and your neighbours in the University Neighbourhoods Association) to develop an appropriate governance model for UBC. This could mean more autonomy for UBC, and that it can control where and when it wants to build various projects on campus—instead of it operating like a city, as it does now, it could be a city.
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New SUB Lease Signed
Over the course of the next hour, the New SUB Lease agreements will be signed. We’re currently at the AMS Council meeting, trying to figure out the details.
Of current particular note:
1. The AMS will retain any space needed to meet its programming needs in the Old SUB. In 8 years after the building’s constructed, this space is forfeited to UBC under the condition that they find similar space for the activities therein.
2. There are only two permitted liquor primaries in the New SUB. Neither of these bars are to be visible from University Square nor are they to have entrances or exits directly to the outside of the building. This is due to a monopoly deal UBC struck with Mahony and Sons, the private pub located on University Boulevard.
The signing ceremony will take place at 5:00pm Today (Friday) at the SUB Partyroom.
Busby Perkins+Will Architects
According to the Facebook page of Busby Perkins+Will (BP+W), they were “Established in 1984 by Peter Busby in Vancouver, British Columbia, Busby Perkins+Will is an integrated architecture, interiors, and planning firm recognized for its leadership with clients in Corporate + Commercial + Civic, Healthcare, Higher Education, K-12 Education and Science + Technology. The firm is committed to sustainability and green building design, creating modern, functional, and flexible spaces, utilizing the latest, most efficient technology to meet our clients ever-changing needs and desires”
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The Case for Heavy Rail
By Alex MacKinnon, fifth year student in Mining Engineering, and fan of transportation planning. If you would like to pitch us a guest post, get in touch–we’re a well-read forum for you to get your ideas out.
I’m sure the vast majority of people reading Insiders are pretty familiar with the transportation problems of the Broadway corridor. The viability of the status quo is frequently questioned. People ask why we need to do anything at all, why spend the money? Simply put Broadway will hit a point of diminishing returns on how many buses can be added and how many people can be moved cost effectively with buses. While the 44, 84 and 43 have been designed to partially take the load off the 99 there’s not much hope in those routes staying ahead of demand in the long term without large investments in improved service. Big infrastructure projects in Vancouver like rapid transit to UBC, have been put off for decades, but now it’s crunch time.
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BoG Breakdown – Mar. 23 Meeting
The Board of Governors meeting for March/April has once again rolled around. Today is the Board Committees Meeting, with the full board meeting being April 8th. The agenda has a number of interesting elements on it, including details of UBC’s next budget, updates on the UBC Transit Line study, the tuition fee increases for next year, and more.
As always, if you have any thoughts or comments about these items or any others on the agenda, you can email the student Board reps, Mike Duncan and Bijan Ahmadian, who will be transitioning to the new student reps after this meeting.
Read on for a detailed analysis of what I consider to be some of the more interesting items on the agenda.
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CP&D Open Houses Galore
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.
The following is a guest post by John Tompkins, editor and publisher of the Wesbrook Journal, former editor of the Hampton Journal, and resident of UBC. If you would like to submit a guest post, contact us.
Lack of local interest is cited; new thrust is to provide UBC more services
The City of Vancouver has lost interest in the idea of annexing UBC, at least for the time being.
The City has not lost interest in expanding the range of services it provides UBC, however. On the contrary, City Council in October voted in favor of starting a courtship which, if consummated, could eventually see—among other things—Vancouver City Police take over policing duties at UBC from the RCMP. (video)
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Planning the Unplannable
The following is a guest post written by Dr. Darren Peets, former student Board of Governors representative and campus planning aficionado. We invited Darren to offer a critical retrospective on campus planning procedures, and to offer a solution. Dr. Peets is currently working as a post-doc in Japan.
I was invited to write a short piece for UBC Insiders on the amenability of university campuses (campi, perhaps?) to physical planning exercises such as the current UBC Vancouver Campus Plan. While I’ve been on plenty of planning-related committees and have argued with plenty of planners, I don’t have a degree in planning, so there may be things I’ve overlooked, misunderstood, or oversimplified. I am, however, probably qualified by now to offer a curmudgeonly admonishment about how you people are getting it all wrong, how you should really do it, and how, back in my day, we had to carry the horse through five metres of snow to school and back, uphill both ways. I should also mention that I’m not known for being brief, but I’m occasionally sarcastic.
The first and most important thing to understand about university physical planning is where new buildings and public open space come from on a university campus (existing buildings require much less planning).
Just got a mail from the planning department: St. John Hospice will not be built behind Marine Drive! There is much to rejoice here, as it points to something in the planning cycle working. Here’s the letter that made my morning.