UniverCity on Burnaby Mountain hosts third in “2007 Showcasing Innovation Series”
The event theme for Celebrating Green Infrastructure is “A Partnership in Action: from Vision to Implementation”
The projected growth of the Metro Vancouver region and resulting cumulative impacts are drivers for reassessing how land is developed and water is used. To promote a new way-of-thinking related to infrastructure policies and practices, The Green Infrastructure Partnership has organized Showcasing Green Infrastructure Innovation in Greater Vancouver: The 2007 Series.
The Showcasing Innovation Series
The Showcasing Innovation Series comprises three one-day events. Each is structured as presentations in the morning and a tour of project sites in the afternoon. The third in the series will be hosted by UniverCity – the Community at Simon Fraser.
The goal in showcasing innovation and celebrating successes is to promote networking, build regional capacity, and move ‘from awareness to action’ – through sharing of green infrastructure approaches, tools, experiences and lessons learned as an outcome of designing with nature.
To access stories previously on the Waterbucket website and learn more, click on:
Event Registration:
For program and registration details, please click on this link to download Showcasing Green Infrastructure Innovation at UniverCity on Burnaby Mountain. Attendance will be capped at 40. The venue for the morning session is the Himalayan Peak Restaurant. For directions, click on this link to download a copy of the UniverCity location map .
Showcasing Innovation at UniverCity
UniverCity is a sustainable community in many ways. It is walkable; provides families with a sense of community in a healthy environment; supports economic development and jobs; and offers a range of housing, commercial, and transportation options.
According to Chris Hartman, Vice-President of the SFU Community Trust, “In showcasing what we have accomplished at UniverCity, we will address two aspects of this complete, compact community: first, why we are green; and secondly, what we are doing to implement green infrastructure. In tems of the why part, there are three dimensions…zoning, infrastructure and consumer demand for green. When we say infrastructure, we mainly mean the rainwater/stormwater system.”
Program Design:
The UniverCity program comprises a set of three context presentations followed by a roundtable sharing session, and concluding with a detailed look at the Verdant non-market housing project, a precedent-setting green building.
“Our objective is to provide Showcasing Innovation participants with an opportunity to drill down into the lessons that the UniverCity team has been learning by doing,” notes Kim Stephens, Series organizer and event Moderator, and Program Coordinator for the Water Sustainability Action Plan for British Columbia.
“Our intention in showcasing UniverCity is to go beyond the obvious so that local government practitioners will have a clear sense of where innovation at UniverCity is leading,” continues Kim Stephens, “Circa 2000, UniverCity blazed a green infrastructure trail for others to follow. UniverCity was the genesis for much of what we have since seen implemented in British Columbia. It is therefore reasonable to suggest that what UniverCity is pioneering today may very well be standard practice five years from now.”
Context Presentations
The set of three context presentations cover three aspects of environment: cultural, built-form, and infrastructure. UniverCity is a community in transition. Until recently, the main thrust of the SFU Community Trust was to build the buildings. Now the energy is shifting into building a community.
Building a Community
Chris Hartman and Dale Mikkelsen will share the telling of the story of the history of the UniverCity project from its inception. They will talk about how the project has grown from a series of public meetings and charrettes to a vital and vibrant community of over 2000 people. They will also identify the results of a recent community census survey, as well as the forthcoming directions for UniverCity as it seeks to become a truly complete community.
Living in a sustainable community also means having shops, services and amenities within walking distance to your home. Now that the built environment at UniverCity is taking shape, Chris and Mike will elaborate on how the UniverCity team is interacting with residents to create a cultural environment.
“At UniverCity residents have parks, trails, playgrounds and discounted transit, and have access to the university’s recreational facilities and other amenities,” reports Nancy McCuaig, Community Liaison Manager, “In effect, our role is much like that of a City Hall. We are facilitating the partnership between the university and the community. We are doing event planning and promoting community involvement.”
According to Nancy, UniverCity is an instant community on an intensive scale. In a nutshell, her focus is on creating a sense of community
Green Zoning and Planning
Dale Mikkelsen, Manager, Planning & Sustainability, will highlight the planning process to date at UniverCity, with a focus on those components that have pushed UniverCity to grow sustainably. His presentation will highlight previous successes and failures, and will illustrate these through real project experience.
According to Dale, “Through this analysis, the presentation will turn to the future of UniverCity with its innovative new zoning policies, mandatory green building requirements, and new density bonusing program that has been developed in partnership with the City of Burnaby.”
Green Infrastructure and Adaptive Management
Chris Hartman will explore the growth of infrastructure and servicing at UniverCity since its inception. This will include a very interesting look at traditional City of Burnaby standards, contrasted with the solutions implemented at UniverCity.
According to Chris, “The core focus will be on UniverCity’s very innovation rainwater/stormwater management program based on the Water Balance Model, as well as the street and pathway systems that ensure integration with the natural hydrologic systems and help to provide priority to pedestrians and the enjoyment of the public realm.”
The UniverCity experience became the heart of Stormwater Planning: A Guidebook for British Columbia. This then triggered development of the Water Balance Model, which in turn led to formation of the Green Infrastructure Partnership. UniverCity is a pioneer application in North America of ‘adaptive management’ in a local government setting. The goal of adaptive management is to learn by doing and constantly improve.”
Verdant: A LEED Gold Building
Heather Tremain will tell the story of the Verdant project, a multi-unit strata building, which is currently seeking to be the first LEED Gold woodframe residential building in North America. Heather was the project manager for the VanCity project at UniverCity, as well as the green building consultant on the project.
According to Heather, “The many innovative environmental features in Verdant include the strategies utilized to ensure a greater than 60% increase in energy efficiency.” In addition to explaining the technical aspects, Heather will showcase the integrated childcare facility for children living in Verdant and the neighbourhood.
Affordability
“The Verdant building is also a non-market project that was built for SFU faculty and staff with an innovative land transfer and sales component that will ensure affordability throughout the life of the project,” reports Chris Hartman.
To maintain housing affordability for SFU’s faculty and staff, Verdant will come with an innovative pricing program which will allow owners to purchase their residence at 20 percent below fair market prices, with three key conditions: The first is that they will be living in the residence, not purchasing to rent out; the second is that on re-sale, the residence must be sold at the same percentage discount below then-current market prices. Yes, purchasers will still be able to benefit from any price appreciation – it just means that they will start at a price below market and then, if they sold, resell at a price that is also below market. The third is that the residence will first be offered to SFU faculty and staff with children before being offered to the general market.
In the future, and for the term of the 99-year ground lease, when purchasers decide to sell their suite, they will first have to have their suite re-appraised to the then-current market conditions. The same 20 percent below-market discount will then still apply. This allows a return on the initial investment just like any other real estate purchase, and the re-sale control agreement ensures that affordability relative to market is maintained for the community and that savings will be passed on to subsequent owners.
About the SFU Community Trust
Formerly known as the Burnaby Mountain Community Corporation, ithe SFU Community Trust was incorporated in February 1999 with the mandate to manage the planning and development of a complete new community on approximately 65 hectares (160 acres) of land surrounding the SFU campus on Burnaby Mountain.
The SFU Community Trust is a wholly owned subsidiary of Simon Fraser University. Its primary goals are twofold:
- To create a community which complements existing and future university development, worthy of local and international acclaim;
- To establish an Endowment Fund and other sources of revenue to support a variety of university purposes.
The corporation is governed by a Board of Directors whose members include representatives from the university’s Board of Governors, officers of the university, and external experts knowledgeable about planning and urban development. The corporation receives advice from a Community Advisory Committee (CAC). The CAC includes representatives from the campus community, and neighbouring interest groups. The corporation maintains a storefront office at The Cornerstone on University High Street.
Water Sustainability Action Plan for British Columbia
The Water Sustainability Action Plan for British Columbia is sponsored by the Province of British Columbia, and the Action Plan elements are being delivered through partnerships, one of which is the Green Infrastructure Partnership. The Action Plan provides a partnership umbrella for an array of on-the-ground initiatives that promote a ‘water-centric’ approach to community planning and development. .
The mission of the Green Infrastructure Partnership is to provide leadership and encourage others to implement ‘design with nature’ design practices and regulation province-wide. Implementation by local governments will be voluntary, but once the decision is made to embrace green infrastructure, implementation will need clearly defined standards.
Posted October 2007