UBC Residential Housing Threatens Wreck Beach in BC

by James Hickling

World-famous Wreck Beach, located in Pacific Spirit Park on the tip of Point Grey in Vancouver, is now threatened by a controversial plan to develop residential housing at the University of British Columbia campus. 

Recognized as a clothing-optional beach since the 1920s, Wreck Beach is renowned for its wilderness- like setting, pristine viewscapes and unique social culture. Steep cliffs and huge old-growth trees shelter the shore from urban pressures, making the beach a refuge for all kinds of marine and avian wildlife, as well as for people of all shapes andsizes. 

Now the University of British Columbia (UBC), which occupies the land above the beach, is proceeding with a plan to construct four high-rise tower blocks adjacent to the beach. UBC says the development is necessary for UBC to meet its student housing- related goals and will be used primarily to house undergraduates. But it is clearly also part of UBC’s wider real estate development agenda, one that includes a massive programme of luxury condominium and townhouse development elsewhere on the sprawling UBC campus, all under the control of a private subsidiary corporation called UBC Properties Trust. 

If allowed to proceed as planned, the tower blocks will stand well above the forest canopy and loom over the beach, dramatically altering its pristine and private setting. In addition, geotechnical and wildlife experts have expressed concerns about the effects of the towers on the stability of the adjacent cliffs and the integrity of nearby wildlife habitat. 

The development of land adja- cent to the beach is governed by the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) with its Offi cial Community Plan for Electoral Area ‘A’ (OCP) and Pacifi c Spirit Regional Park Management Plan (PMP). The OCP requires that the development of areas adjacent to Pacifi c Spirit Park will only be done in a manner that protects park values. The PMP requires that all development that is deemed to adversely impact the Park must be subjected to a full public review. 

Dave Forsyth, a Director of the Pacifi c Spirit Park Society (PSPS), says that he believes UBC is putting its own interests ahead of the public interest. “The OCP and PMP were intended to ensure that this invaluable public space is protected for future generations”, says Forsyth. “We have been trying to encourage UBC to reconsider the design of the buildings to make them park-friendly.” 

Judy Williams, Chair of the Wreck Beach Preservation Society (WBPS), echoes Forsyth’s concerns. The WBPS collected 23,000 signatures on a petition opposing the towers and received a further 500 letters from people around the world who support the campaign to save Wreck Beach. But Williams says that UBC and GVRD have been reticent in their response to the public outcry over the towers. “We have been warning UBC and the GVRD about the impacts of this development for over a year, but they refused to listen. Now all of the problems we warned them about are happening,” said Williams. 

UBC initially reacted to public concern by claiming that studies prepared by its consultants proved that the tower blocks would not impact the beach. Ironically, however, UBC refused to release those studies to the public. WBPS fi nally obtained the studies after making an application under provincial freedom of information legislation and provided them to experts in engineering, geomorphology and wildlife biology for independent review. Those experts concluded that the studies were defi – cient in several respects; in particular, UBC’s consultants failed to consider the potential impacts of the towers on the fragile cliffs and wildlife habitat adjacent to the development. 

Williams says that a visual impact study commissioned by WBPS proves that the towers will mar the pristine viewscapes from the beach and forever change its natural setting. She also describes the very real concern about cliff erosion in the area, pointing to three landslides of increasing severity that have occurred on the cliffs below the towers since construction began. “The recent landslides on the cliffface below the construction site are Mother Nature’s way of warning us that these Towers will be bad for the Park,” cautions Williams. 

Williams is also concerned about the potential for bird-strikes on the towers and Forsyth notes that experts have confi rmed that the beach area and the Point Grey peninsula are on the globally signifi cant Pacifi c Flyway for migratory birds. 

But what about the students? Williams and Forsyth say there is broad community support for more student housing on campus, but not at the expense of the park. They argue that UBC could easily fi nd a place for new student residences elsewhere on its sprawling campus but it appears that UBC has chosen to use those other lands to build hundreds of luxury homes for the private market rather than students. UBC students agree. The UBC Alma Mater Society, which represents all current UBC students, recently issued a unanimous and strongly-worded resolution that confi rms the importance of Pacifi c Spirit Regional Park for students and expresses opposition to any student housing development that fails to ensure the protection of the environment and Park values. 

The campaign to save Wreck Beach is building momentum. But rather than work with local citizens, UBC has resisted pressure from the public and GVRD to modify its plans. On October 29, 2004, the GVRD Board passed resolutions expressing opposition to any development that would compromise viewscapes from all areas of exposed sand at low tide and requiring UBC to conduct a comprehensive public consultation. UBC ignored those resolutions and carried on with the construction of the fi rst tower through the holiday season, raising it to its full height early in 2005.

By February 2005, the GVRD Board had passed more resolutions, recommending that UBC consider adopting a “line-of-site” approach to building heights and refrain from building any structures that would be visible from the beach at low tide. The UBC Alma Mater Society has specifi cally endorsed this recommendation, which would have required that the three remaining tower blocks be somewhat lower than planned. UBC has indicated that it will not be constrained in this way. Instead, UBC will hold a public meeting on the towers, claiming that to adopt the line-of-site approach now would be to “pre-judge” the public consultation process it intends to co-ordinate. 

Williams and Forsyth see the upcoming public meeting as one of the watershed moments in the campaign to save Wreck Beach. “Wreck Beach is a special place and we have heard from thousands of people all over British Columbia and around the world who want the beach preserved in its natural state,” says Williams. “Our job now is to make sure that those people are informed and have an opportunity to express their concern for the beach to UBC and the GVRD.” 

UBC must fi rst present its plans for the public meeting to the UBC/GVRD Joint Committee for approval. It was expected that this would take place at the April 20, 2005 meeting of the Joint Committee, but that meeting was cancelled apparently because UBC was not yet ready to disclose its plans. The next meeting of the Joint Committee is scheduled for May 25. Meanwhile, UBC is now claiming that the beach and tidal fl ats are not natural features deserving of protection, but are in fact the result of historical human activities such as the dredging of the Fraser River and the construction of a breakwater.

***

For more information about the upcoming public meeting and how to help save Wreck Beach, write: Wreck Beach Preservation Society, c/o 28616 Haverman Rd., Bradner BC V4X 2P3 Email: judyw@wreckbeach.org – Fax: 604-856-9598. Website: www.wreckbeach.org.

[From WS May/July 2005]

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