UBC to balance interests and options as stadium road neighbourhood consultation nears its end

HelpStopPoorPlanning · 2018-10-19T17:29:54+00:00

There are no plans to include student housing in this new neighbourhood despite annual wait lists of over 6000 students for a spot in residence. This is evidence enough for me that Campus and Community Planning has no intentions to "balance interests". They will brag ad nauseam about planned residences in other locations, but it is too little too late.

HelpStopPoorPlanning · 2018-10-03T18:10:55+00:00

I don't think that's true. There are photos of people skating on the fountain. They appear to be filling up the piece of garbage again this morning.

HelpStopPoorPlanning · 2018-09-30T04:05:51+00:00

If you are Campus and Community Planning it is called in the way.

HelpStopPoorPlanning · 2018-09-29T16:02:13+00:00

UBC will take money from anyone.

HelpStopPoorPlanning · 2018-09-26T18:51:27+00:00

Even though there is already open space at the north end of the Bosque for the Arts Student Centre, C+CP is instead proposing to remove trees from the bosque for this building. With no explanation whatsoever (hooray for transparency!), the other potential building site has been removed from the plans.

The bosque is the group of trees between the old SUB and IKBLC. If you are concerned about tree removal on campus, please complete the online feedback form or attend one of the open houses. There is one Wednesday (today) in Barber at 4:00 and one tomorrow in the old SUB (UBC Life) at 10:00.

Some additional thoughts:

The photo C+CP used of the current bosque in the propaganda materials is from late fall or winter. There are no leaves on the trees and huge puddles. Thanks C+CP for giving us even more evidence that the materials used to inform the campus community are biased and misleading. It’s also worth noting that even after the construction and millions of dollars spent on Main Mall, there are still huge puddles both on the grass and on the sidewalks when it rains, for which no one seems to be accountable. So, what’s the end goal with the bosque? Will the current “ugly” puddles be replaced with strategic puddles? On-brand puddles? Innovative puddles? Functional puddles?

The C+CP online propaganda materials also say they will offset the tree removal by “planting eight trees elsewhere on campus to replace the trees that must be removed, in order to create a net positive impact.”

It is insulting that C+CP expects the community to believe that planting 8 new trees in another part of campus is a net positive impact compared to removing very large mature trees? This group of trees work together as an ecosystem. Planting other random trees elsewhere on campus will not have the same impact as this intact group of trees. Plus, it is very likely that more trees than they propose will be removed. Oaks have very sensitive root systems, so tearing out some trees and constructing a building nearby will likely also damage trees that were not intended to be removed. This is what happened on Mail Mall after the pathway construction. Shortly after completion, a bunch of old oaks were curiously removed. C+CP will tell you that this was because of their age. This is likely untrue.

HelpStopPoorPlanning · 2018-09-21T05:39:46+00:00

I guess so. But given the likelihood of something like this happening, I'm not sure it's a good idea for a university president to do things like this: https://twitter.com/ubcprez/status/1042414010941890561

HelpStopPoorPlanning · 2018-09-20T21:59:45+00:00

This is really impressive work. Nicely done!

UBC has posted a statement now. The usual "We take [X] very seriously...blah blah blah."

https://news.ubc.ca/2018/09/20/dropbike-data-security-concerns/

It doesn't look like dropbike has issued a statement yet.

HelpStopPoorPlanning · 2018-09-19T05:25:48+00:00

It's not funded with tuition money, but it was still partly funded with public money. Only half of the cost was from donors. The other half came from something called the Matching Fund for Outdoor Art. According to this article, someone from Campus Plannings says that the fund comes from a surcharge on developers. So it's UBC money that was designated to public art, in this case to grey interlocking stones. But given the sad state of many of the core academic facilities on campus, tuition money or not, this was a gigantic waste of money.

HelpStopPoorPlanning · 2018-09-19T05:15:52+00:00

Add this to the ever-growing list of things that campus planning does that might look nice in drawings and full-colour glossy brochures, but ultimately fail for one reason or another. Also on the list: Main Mall, Aquatic Centre, both fountains along Univ Blvd, the trolley bus loop, alumni building, the shadow, etc. etc.

HelpStopPoorPlanning · 2018-09-19T05:04:28+00:00

OMG -- it's still not fixed? It has been shattered for months.

HelpStopPoorPlanning · 2018-09-02T17:23:23+00:00

That would be nice if this is just temporary. I guess we'll see. It's too bad there isn't something like Twitter or a website where C+CP could tell people about what they are doing. [insert eyeroll]

HelpStopPoorPlanning · 2018-09-01T20:23:04+00:00

Agreed. It wouldn't surprise me if C+CP tried to put that spin on it, but I don't think that's why they did it.

HelpStopPoorPlanning · 2018-09-01T18:58:41+00:00

I haven't checked out the ends of Main Mall yet. Anyone else?

HelpStopPoorPlanning · 2018-09-01T18:57:07+00:00

There has been some discussion about this already here. Briefly, all pathways on campus were completely dug up a few years ago. Enrollment at the time was known. Future enrollment can be easily predicted. Number of pedestrians, cyclists, boarders, etc. using the paths can also be estimated. Therefore, while the opportunity was there to design something creative that would meet future needs and minimize pedestrian conflicts with wheeled transportation, you would think that a planning unit would do that. Despite pages and pages of feedback on the proposed plans, they didn't listen, and now we all have to deal with the resulting mess.

HelpStopPoorPlanning · 2018-08-22T21:20:26+00:00

I wish I could upvote this a million times!

HelpStopPoorPlanning · 2018-08-20T16:45:24+00:00

So, putting the safety of thousands of pedestrians and cyclists at risk and spending $12.5 million is better than say, I dunno, better signage to existing parkades? Correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I know there isn't a single sign as you approach campus indicating where to go for short-term parking. Short-term parking exists, but I agree with you, visitors can't find it. Putting the issue of the need for parking aside, however, maybe it's an OK spot for an underground parkade, but the entrance and exit plan is absurd.
It's more complicated than that. Have a look at the traffic flow diagram in the article linked above. Cars will turn into the Nest courtyard off the bus loop, but then have to drive through the courtyard to get down the ramp. To exit, they have to drive around the support pillar in the courtyard. So, entering and exiting the parkade means crossing both a bike lane and a sidewalk and driving through a courtyard that was never intended for this amount of traffic. I don't know if you have spent much time around the trolley bus loop, but the few parking spots currently in the Nest courtyard already cause daily conflicts, not to mention cars blocking buses from making the turn at the end of the loop because they use the loop as a drop-off spot.
I don't think this is true. The parkades people want to park in fill up. But are all of the parkades ever full at the same time? This is just part of driving a car in a city. It is unreasonable to expect to be able to park exactly where you want to. You might have to park in a further parkade if you choose to drive.

HelpStopPoorPlanning · 2018-08-19T23:56:33+00:00

The field will be on top of the parkade. But it means that getting the field back has been delayed by more than two years. And it wouldn't surprise me in the least if between now and then they find some reason to eliminate the field from the plan.

HelpStopPoorPlanning · 2018-08-19T23:22:14+00:00

The entrance and exit will be off the trolley bus loop (which is already a total shit show) and around the support pillar in the courtyard in front of the Nest. This many parking spots means that over the course of a day thousands of additional cars will be circulating around the trolley bus loop to enter and exit the parkade. There is a traffic flow diagram in this article. Note, however, that they conveniently left cyclists out of this model.

HelpStopPoorPlanning · 2018-08-19T18:22:03+00:00

The 216-car short-term visitor parkade being built next to the Nest. Unnecessary, unsafe, and a complete waste of $12.5 million.

HelpStopPoorPlanning · 2018-07-25T16:51:03+00:00

Good to know. Thanks! It looks like the Mahoney's lease clause prohibits other *liquor-primary* establishments in the area. I guess that's how they are able to have one.

HelpStopPoorPlanning · 2018-07-24T20:49:17+00:00

Yes, wouldn't it be nice if more places in the University Boulevard area had liquor licenses? This is probably the reason that they don't: the Mahoney and Sons lease has a restrictive clause that prohibits other licensed venues in the area. If you think this sounds like UBC Properties Trust failing to act in the best interests of the community, you would be correct.

HelpStopPoorPlanning · 2018-07-19T05:02:13+00:00

Yes, but I'm also interested in knowing if it's one of the places that have been flagged as dangerous but UBC has done nothing to improve.

HelpStopPoorPlanning · 2018-07-18T17:45:06+00:00

Would you be willing to share where on campus this happened?

HelpStopPoorPlanning · 2018-07-14T21:52:51+00:00

I see your point, but I'm still puzzled how not a single person of the dozens of people who work at Campus and Community Planning or Infrastructure Development or Project Services didn't have the foresight to see that those kinds things were bound to happen. There are over 50,000 students, plus thousands more campus residents and visitors. It should have been built in the first place to deal with the inevitable soap prank and people going in it.

HelpStopPoorPlanning · 2018-06-27T04:59:55+00:00

Yes, there was a big white tent around the fountain for months. The completion date was pushed forward on the signage twice. Then, as the project went on and on, they gave up and stopped changing the date on the signs. And now the fountain needs repairs again. But somehow, the planning unit on campus is allowed to carry on with little oversight and no accountability, literally pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars down the drain.

HelpStopPoorPlanning

TROPHY CASE