University Endowment Lands | |
---|---|
Unincorporated area | |
Coordinates: 49°15′29″N123°13′41″W / 49.258°N 123.228°W | |
Country | Canada |
Province | British Columbia |
Regional district | Metro Vancouver |
Electoral Area | Electoral Area A |
Government | |
• Minister of Municipal Affairs | Ravi Kahlon |
• MP | Joyce Murray |
• MLA | David Eby |
• MVRD Director | Jen McCutcheon |
Area | |
• Total | 14.13 km2 (5.46 sq mi) |
Elevation | 80 m (260 ft) |
Population (2021) | |
• Total | 3,193 |
• Density | 225.97/km2 (585.3/sq mi) |
Time zone | UTC-8 (PST) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (PDT) |
Postal code span | V6S, V6T |
Area code(s) | 604, 778 |
Website | University Endowment Lands |
The University Endowment Lands (UEL) is an unincorporated area in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It lies west of Vancouver and east of the University of British Columbia's Point Grey campus lands. Most of the University Endowment Lands' land area is occupied by Pacific Spirit Regional Park, a large nature park operated by Metro Vancouver, with the remainder comprising of residential and commercial developments.
As an unincorporated area, the University Endowment Lands is not part of any municipality. Instead, it is directly administered by the provincial government in the name of the Minister of Municipal Affairs under the terms of the University Endowment Land Act. For the purposes of representation on the Metro Vancouver Board of Directors, the UEL is part of Electoral Area A. In a 1995 referendum, UEL residents voted against establishing a municipal governing body. [2]
The University Endowment Lands are located immediately west of the City of Vancouver on the Burrard Peninsula. Statistics Canada reports a total land area of 14.13 square kilometres (5.46 sq mi). Most of the UEL is made up of Pacific Spirit Regional Park, a mostly forested land that was originally set aside for development which never materialized. Located on Point Grey, the UEL also boasts tall cliffs near the water, with steep drops of approximately 70 metres (230 ft) down to the beaches below.
Because the UEL is close to seaside cliffs and the Strait of Georgia, above-average winds are common. Most of the winds come from the Strait itself, Howe Sound and English Bay.
Snowfalls are also more common than many parts of the City of Vancouver because of the area's higher altitude and the lack of an urban heat island due to less terrestrial development.
The UEL has higher humidity compared to other parts of Greater Vancouver because it is surrounded on three sides by water. Fog is common in the winter months, especially in areas near Pacific Spirit Park and the water.
Climate data for UBC, Vancouver | |||||||||||||
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Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 16.4 (61.5) | 17.9 (64.2) | 19.5 (67.1) | 25.0 (77.0) | 31.0 (87.8) | 30.0 (86.0) | 31.1 (88.0) | 32.8 (91.0) | 30.0 (86.0) | 25.0 (77.0) | 17.5 (63.5) | 14.6 (58.3) | 32.8 (91.0) |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 6.0 (42.8) | 7.6 (45.7) | 9.5 (49.1) | 12.3 (54.1) | 15.7 (60.3) | 18.0 (64.4) | 20.4 (68.7) | 20.5 (68.9) | 17.9 (64.2) | 13.1 (55.6) | 8.5 (47.3) | 6.1 (43.0) | 13.0 (55.4) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | 3.6 (38.5) | 4.9 (40.8) | 6.6 (43.9) | 9.1 (48.4) | 12.3 (54.1) | 14.7 (58.5) | 16.9 (62.4) | 17.1 (62.8) | 14.5 (58.1) | 10.3 (50.5) | 6.1 (43.0) | 3.8 (38.8) | 10.0 (50.0) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 1.2 (34.2) | 2.3 (36.1) | 3.6 (38.5) | 5.7 (42.3) | 8.8 (47.8) | 11.4 (52.5) | 13.2 (55.8) | 13.5 (56.3) | 11.1 (52.0) | 7.5 (45.5) | 3.7 (38.7) | 1.5 (34.7) | 7.0 (44.6) |
Record low °C (°F) | −13.9 (7.0) | −12.5 (9.5) | −10.6 (12.9) | −0.6 (30.9) | 1.7 (35.1) | 2.6 (36.7) | 7.3 (45.1) | 6.1 (43.0) | 0.6 (33.1) | −4.1 (24.6) | −12.5 (9.5) | −18.3 (−0.9) | −18.3 (−0.9) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 162.7 (6.41) | 137.5 (5.41) | 121.9 (4.80) | 89.6 (3.53) | 68.3 (2.69) | 55.5 (2.19) | 39.3 (1.55) | 48.1 (1.89) | 58.6 (2.31) | 113.6 (4.47) | 198.9 (7.83) | 183.5 (7.22) | 1,277.4 (50.29) |
Source: Environment Canada [3] |
The territory was originally held by the Musqueam Indian Band which still lays claim to the area. [4]
The creation of the University Endowment Lands was first proposed after the passing of the University Endowment Act of 1907, in which the British Columbia provincial government agreed to set aside two million acres (8,000 km2) of British Columbia Crown land to be sold or leased to fund the creation of a university. This land was to be in the Cariboo region of the province's Interior, and consisted of mostly agricultural land. This idea was changed in 1911 when the provincial government passed the University Site Act, which set aside 175 acres (71 ha) in Point Grey for the university. This is where the UEL is located today.
By 1920, it was realized that the Cariboo land did not have a high enough market value to generate the income needed for the university, so that idea was abandoned. This led to the British Columbia University Loan Act, which allowed the Lieutenant-Governor to sell 3,000 acres (12 km2) of Crown land on Point Grey for residential development. The money from the auction was put in the University Endowment Account for the university. [5]
However, a lot of the development that was planned was halted due to economic hardships stemming from the Great Depression. The university could not afford to prepare the land for development or to clear the forest land for development. In the 1930s, the university returned control of the land to the government. By the mid-1950s, over half of the undeveloped land in the UEL remained undeveloped due to the Depression and war shortages in the 1940s.
There have been many attempts to develop this land, which was then opposed by environmentally aware residents in the area. In 1988, the creation of Pacific Spirit Park was announced by the provincial Premier Bill Vander Zalm. The park currently makes up of over half of the UEL, acting as a greenbelt between the developed areas and the City of Vancouver. Development, in large part, is very limited; for any proposed developments in the UEL by the Greater Vancouver Regional District or the University of British Columbia, the following groups must be consulted beforehand: university students, university staff, university faculty, environmental groups, businesses, residents and the general public. [6]
In the 2021 census the University Endowment Lands had an official permanent population of 3,193. [7]
As an unincorporated area, the University Endowment Lands has no mayor or municipal government. The area is instead organized under the University Endowment Land Act, which grants the Minister of Municipal Affairs the authority to make by-laws and to regulate development in the area. [8] The minister's authority has been delegated to the UEL Administration, a division of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs headed by the UEL Manager, an appointee of the minister. The incumbent Minister of Municipal Affairs is Ravi Kahlon and the current UEL Manager is William Emo. The UEL Administration is responsible for land-use planning, by-law enforcement, local streets, utilities, parks and recreation, and garbage collection. [9] While it is geographically within the UEL, Pacific Spirit Park is owned by Metro Vancouver, which autonomously operates the park as its own entity. [9]
For the purposes of representation on the Metro Vancouver Board of Directors, the UEL is part of Electoral Area A along with UBC Vancouver, Barnston Island, remote parts of the North Shore, and certain islands in the Howe Sound and Indian Arm. The current Electoral Area A director is Jen McCutcheon. Metro Vancouver handles emergency planning inside the UEL and shapes the development of the area through its regional growth strategy.
For provincial elections, the UEL falls under the Vancouver-Point Grey electoral riding. The current Member of the Legislative Assembly is David Eby.
For federal elections, the UEL is in the Vancouver Quadra electoral riding. The seat is held by Joyce Murray.
In 1995, a referendum was put to voters in the University Endowment Lands and in the Hampton Place neighbourhood of UBC Vancouver to combine the two communities as a new municipality. [2] This effort was rejected with 599 of 917 votes (65%) against on a turnout of 33 percent. [9] In the same year, Vancouver City Council voted not to pursue the annexation of the University Endowment Lands, though it welcomed future amalgamation with the UEL if the province or local residents requested this measure and compensated the city for the cost. [10]
In 2022, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs published the final report of its UEL Governance Study, which outlined options for the future of the University Endowment Lands' government. [9] The possible scenarios studied were continuing the status quo of provincial administration, transferring most local services to Metro Vancouver as a local service area, incorporating the UEL as a standalone municipality, and annexing the UEL to the City of Vancouver. Since the publication of the study, the province has not announced any planned changes to the UEL's governance.
The UEL is made up of four neighbourhood areas: [1]
As Pacific Spirit Regional Park covers most of the University Endowment Lands, there are only five roads that connect the UEL to Vancouver: Northwest Marine Drive, Chancellor Boulevard, University Boulevard, 16th Avenue and Southwest Marine Drive. These roads are owned and maintained by the Ministry of Transportation and Transit as part of the provincial highway system. [11] In addition, the UEL Administration maintains a number of local streets in the residential communities.
By virtue of its location between Vancouver and the UBC campus, all TransLink to UBC Exchange pass through the University Endowment Lands. Bus routes serving the UEL include the 99 B-Line and the R4 RapidBus, as well as the 4, 14, 25, 33, 44, 49, 68 and 84 routes. Limited service is provided by the N17 NightBus in late evenings and by the 9 at peak hours during the school year. An extension of the SkyTrain's Millennium Line from Arbutus Station to UBC is part of long-term plans from TransLink and the provincial government but remains unfunded. [12] [13] This line will travel through the University Endowment Lands, but no stations are currently planned within its borders.
The developed portion of the University Endowment Lands is largely residential, with some commercial uses in the area around University Village and University Marketplace. The Village and Marketplace, located next to each other near the intersection of University Boulevard and Allison Road, are home to a food court, several restaurants, some shops, some medical clinics and some services. Due to their proximity to the UBC campus, they are often frequented by students.
The eastern end of the UEL is home to the University Golf Course, which is one of the original developments in the non-campus portions of the UEL.
The University Village is the first commercial structure built in the UEL. Its main level mostly includes a convenience store, a McDonald's restaurant, a photocopying store and a florist.
The second level is home to a Japanese restaurant, a salon, a pizza parlour and a discount textbook store (which is in direct competition with UBC Bookstore, located on campus).
The basement level is entirely dedicated to a multicultural-themed food court, including Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Middle Eastern, etc.
The University Marketplace [14] is a mixed commercial-residential structure completed around the late 1990s to the early 2000s. The main floor is home to Rogers Wireless, Staples Business Depot, Starbucks, several restaurants, some cafes and others.
The second floor of the Marketplace contains mostly offices and medical clinics. Some professors from UBC (especially those in the medical field) have offices located there, likely due to the proximity of the science buildings and UBC Hospital.
The upper floors of the Marketplace contain mostly residential apartment housing.
The University Endowment Lands is part of the Vancouver School Board (School District 39) and participates in elections for its trustees. While students in the UEL can enrol in a number of specialized out-of-catchment schools operated by the Vancouver School Board, the in-catchment elementary schools are University Hill Elementary and Norma Rose Point Elementary. The in-catchment secondary school is University Hill Secondary School, which is located in the neighbouring jurisdiction of UBC Vancouver.
Regent College, an interdenominational evangelical Christian College of Christian studies affiliated with UBC, is located in the UEL.
Policing in the University Endowment Lands is the responsibility of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police "E" Division's University detachment, which is also the police of jurisdiction in the neighbouring UBC Vancouver. [15] Through a service agreement with the City of Vancouver, Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services provides firefighting services to the University Endowment Lands through its fire hall at 2992 Wesbrook Mall in UBC Vancouver.
Richmond is a city in the coastal Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Mainly a suburban city, it occupies almost the entirety of Lulu Island, between the two estuarine distributaries of the Fraser River. Encompassing the adjacent Sea Island and several other smaller islands and uninhabited islets to its north and south, the suburb neighbours Vancouver and Burnaby on the Burrard Peninsula to the north, New Westminster and Annacis Island to the east, Delta to the south, and the Strait of Georgia to the west.
The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1908, it is the oldest university in British Columbia and oldest Canadian university west of Winnipeg. With an annual research budget of $893 million, UBC funds 9,992 projects annually in various fields of study within the industrial sector, as well as governmental and non-governmental organizations.
Pacific Spirit Regional Park is a 860 hectares park located in Point Grey to the west of the city of Vancouver, British Columbia. Located in Electoral Area A, it surrounds the University of British Columbia Vancouver campus on the shores of Georgia Strait in the Pacific Ocean. Most of Pacific Spirit Park is in the University Endowment Lands, though a portion of the shoreline around Wreck Beach is not part of any organized local government.
Wreck Beach is a nude beach located in Pacific Spirit Regional Park, a part of Electoral Area A just west of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The clothing-optional section is clearly marked with signs and stretches about 6.7 kilometres or 4.2 miles from Acadia Beach, in the north, to the Booming Grounds Creek on the north arm of the Fraser River. The park is administered by Metro Vancouver, though Indigenous claims are repeatedly asserted, especially by the Musqueam Nation.
Kitsilano is a neighbourhood located in the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Kitsilano is named after Squamish chief August Jack Khatsahlano, and the neighbourhood is located in Vancouver's West Side along the south shore of English Bay, between the neighbourhoods of West Point Grey and Fairview. The area is mostly residential with two main commercial areas, West 4th Avenue and West Broadway, known for their retail stores, restaurants and organic food markets.
Regent College is an interdenominational evangelical Christian College of Christian studies, and an affiliated college of the University of British Columbia, located next to the university's campus in the University Endowment Lands west of Vancouver, British Columbia. The school's stated mission is to "cultivate intelligent, vigorous, and joyful commitment to Jesus Christ, His church, and His world."
University Hill Secondary School is a public secondary school in the neighbourhood of Wesbrook Place in Point Grey Campus, just west of the University Endowment Lands and the city limits of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Metro Vancouver Electoral Area A is a part of Metro Vancouver in British Columbia. It includes several unincorporated areas: the University Endowment Lands and the University of British Columbia, west of the City of Vancouver; Bowyer, Passage, and Barnston Islands; the west side of Pitt Lake; the northern portion of Indian Arm; and a large area to the north of the North Shore that is mostly mountainous and sparsely populated except for certain subdivisions between Horseshoe Bay and the Village of Lions Bay.
The Musqueam Nation is a First Nation whose traditional territory encompasses the western half of what is now Greater Vancouver, in British Columbia, Canada. It is governed by a band council and is known officially as the Musqueam Indian Band under the Indian Act. "Musqueam" is an anglicization of the Hunquminum name xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, which means "place of the river grass" or "place where the river grass grows".
Suzanne Anton, is a Canadian politician and the former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of British Columbia. Elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2013 provincial election, Anton represented the riding of Vancouver-Fraserview as a member of the British Columbia Liberal Party, following a career at the municipal level. She was appointed British Columbia's Attorney General and Minister of Justice on June 10, 2013.
West Point Grey is a neighbourhood in the northwest of the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is on Point Grey and bordered by 16th Avenue to the south, Alma Street to the east, English Bay to the north, and Blanca Street to the west. Notable beaches within West Point Grey include Spanish Banks, Locarno and Jericho. Immediately to the south is Pacific Spirit Regional Park and to the east is Kitsilano.
Dunbar–Southlands is a neighbourhood situated on the western side of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, that stretches north from the Fraser River and covers most of the land between the mouth of the Fraser and English Bay.
UBC Exchange is a major public transit exchange point in the University Endowment Lands adjacent to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The first major bus loop located at the University of British Columbia (UBC) opened in September 1945 to serve students, staff, and faculty.
Point Grey is a headland marking the southern entrance to English Bay and Burrard Inlet in British Columbia, Canada. The headland is the site of Wreck Beach, Tower Beach, Point Grey Beach and most notably, since 1925, on its top is the Point Grey Campus of the University of British Columbia.
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Corpus Christi College (CCC) is a Catholic post-secondary institution affiliated with the University of British Columbia (UBC), located on the UBC campus in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The college provides a range of courses in arts, business, and science with an emphasis on small class sizes and close interaction between students and faculty.
The UBC Farm is a 24-hectare farm and forest system on the southern end of the University of British Columbia (UBC) campus in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The farm is operated by the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems, which is part of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems, and has existed in its current form since 2000. It hosts a variety of crops and fruits, as well as some animals and composting facilities. Several academic programs allow the students to use the farm for research and teaching.
The R4 41st Ave is an express bus route with bus rapid transit elements in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Part of TransLink's RapidBus network, it replaced the 43 Express that travelled along 41st Avenue, a major east–west route that connects the University of British Columbia (UBC) to the SkyTrain system's Oakridge–41st Avenue station on the Canada Line and Joyce–Collingwood station on the Expo Line.
University of British Columbia Vancouver, officially known as the Point Grey campus lands, is an unincorporated area that contains the main campus of the University of British Columbia in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Located at the western tip of the Point Grey Peninsula, UBC Vancouver is bordered only by the University Endowment Lands, which separate the campus from the City of Vancouver.
Marine Drive is the name for three major roadways in Greater Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The roads are known for running parallel to major bodies of water, with some sections being a major arterial road, while other serve local traffic. Marine Way is the name applied to a section of Marine Drive that was bypassed in the early 1980s.