Sample Letter
Vancouver , BC V6T 2J8
October 27, 2005
Dennis Pavlich, VP of External and Legal Affairs and the UBC Board of Governors
The University of British Columbia
6328 Memorial Road
Vancouver , B.C. V6T 1Z2
Dear Vice-President Pavlich and UBC Board of Governors:
I have enjoyed Pacific Spirit Regional Park for many years. I have also enjoyed the green space and forest surrounding the UBC campus, as this is one of the few wild edges left in Vancouver . Until several years ago, I remained impressed by the university's seeming commitment to maintain its green space. However, I find myself increasingly dismayed by the scope and intensity of development on the UEL and UBC lands.
It is absolutely reprehensible for the university to “sell off” property to real estate developers to create condos, townhouses and apartments, and then claim that the only place available to build student housing is at the site of the new and proposed Marine Residence towers in the 6600 block of NW Marine Drive. The degree of environmental change is unprecedented at the edge of the Point Grey promontory, and there has been no environmental impact study to consider the cumulative effect of all the new neighborhoods on these lands, much less the addition of not one, but 3 more towers on NW Marine Drive.
The height and proximity to environmentally-sensitive cliffs of Pacific Spirit Regional Park and their height of 20 storeys are simply unacceptable. The university's lands are being chisled away. Now, the forest lands adjacent to the farm have been cleared for research ponds. Across the street I see that the chainsaw practice has begun, which means that a new section of forest is the next to fall. Soon, we will lose our forest across from Hampton Place . When will the development stop, and why is this all happening at once? If housing for students is so important, why were the lands given long-term leases (the Journey, The Promontory, etc.), so these developments could basically go for sale on the open market? If the university is short on land, then putting new neighborhoods where student housing could have been constructed is unconscionable. The façade of sustainability is a shell that has cracked—the Marine Residence Towers are anything but sustainable, as they add to the destruction of one of Vancouver 's most precious pieces of land—the wild edge of beach cliffs and waterfront that surrounds West Point Grey to Musqueam.
The Point Grey Promontory should stay in a natural state. Already, the cliffs suffer from sloughing off and erosion. When there is heavy rainfall, huge amounts of water funnel down and through the cliffs, the streams at waterfront overflow, and one has to wonder: Where is all the wastewater from the new housing developments going? Where is the waste from the Marine Residence tower going? Further, what will be the impact in 2020, if, as the University plans, there are an extra 20,000 people living in the area of NW Marine Drive ? What kind of impact will the additional traffic, pollution, vibrations, wastewater, etc., have on the slim, but vital wildlands of Pacific Spirit Regional Park ? What will happen when the University decides that the UBC Farm must be sacrificed, that the Rhododendron Nursery must be sacrificed? What do you plan to do with the parking lot that now exists where there was forest?
I implore the UBC Board of Regents to halt the further destruction of the Point Grey Promontory. The green space at UBC is rapidly disappearing, new buildings and concrete and roads being created every time I look around. It is vital that we not allow any new structures to interfere with what wild is left.
As planned the towers will significantly impact adjacent Pacific Spirit Regional Park , its wildlife, the integrity of its cliffs and foreshore, migratory and resident bird populations, and its magnificent wild edge. I agree with the Wreck Beach Preservation Society propose that the green space now there with its heritage trees be made into a park in perpetuity called Eagle Tree Park . This park would be a wonderful buffer zone between UBC and Pacific Spirit Regional Park and our beloved eagle trees. The proposed student housing should be constructed elsewhere. The towers are too high for the current location, and there has not been sufficient study of the cumulative effect of all the new development at the west end of the campus.
Sincerely,
Karen Jettmar