One day, visitors to the University of the Fraser Valley may not be able to immediately tell where the campus ends and the surrounding neighbourhood begins.
At least that’s the future envisioned in a draft neighbourhood plan for the city’s so-called UDistrict area that was presented to council Monday.
The plan – which has been in the works for years and will go through another set of revisions before it becomes policy – lays out just how the city wants the area to the north and west of UFV to grow over the coming decades.
By 2040, the plan envisions 6,000 more people living in the area, while UFV is projected to add 1,600 students and 370 workers.
The core of the sprawling plan revolves around building a tree-lined retail and pedestrian hub near Abbotsford Centre that will be home to shops, offices and homes and which can be blocked off to cars during major events. That “Cascades Plaza” will be part of a “UWalk” corridor linking the Salton Road pedestrian and bicycle overpass with the centre of the UFV campus.
While the plan deals with a large neighbourhood south of Highway 1 that spans from Jackson Street in the west to almost Riverside Road in the east, almost all of the growth is envisioned to take place to the immediate north and northwest of UFV. In addition to the university village area focused on the lands around Abbotsford Centre, development is also expected around the King and McCallum Road intersection, and in the lands between the two nodes.
The draft plan envisions most of that development to take the form of multi-storey mixed use and apartment buildings. The draft plan also puts an emphasis on the need to encourage more walking, cycling and transit use by adding more infrastructure. That includes not only adding sidewalks and bike lanes, but also things like bike racks, while requiring new apartment buildings to do the same.
At the present, the lands north of UFV are mostly industrial. While the plan wouldn’t require any property owners to sell or uproot their businesses, when they do choose to move, any new redevelopment would be aimed at creating a more-dense neighbourhood focused on commercial and residential land uses. Meanwhile, UFV is planning to build out its north end, and the plan suggests the university village will “blur” the boundaries between the campus and community.
embed
Once a final version of the plan is adopted, the changes envisioned by it won’t necessarily happen overnight – or, perhaps, ever. Creating a true university village will be dependent on how eager property owners are willing to sell their land, or redevelop themselves. But it will also depend on the growth of the University of the Fraser Valley, and whether it receives funding from the provincial government to construct new buildings at its north end, which is currently dominated by parking, but envisioned as a central part of the village concept. The plan can also be changed at any time by a majority vote of council.
The draft plan faces one more challenge: parking, particularly during major events at Abbotsford Centre.
At the present, the plan says major events require around 2,800 parking stalls. Currently, there are around 3,200 such private and parking stalls within 800 metres of Abbotsford Centre. But at build out, the plan would shrink that total to just 2,400. The solution, the plan posits, is to undertake a “traffic demand management” strategy to convince users to take alternate forms of transportation – particularly transit. The plan suggests the city should work with BC Transit, and also talk to UFV about access to a future parkade or underground parking facility.
New residential buildings would also be required to have underground parking facilities.
Other highlights of the plan include:
n A new road (labelled as “Duke Avenue”) that would connect McKenzie and the King Road Connector and run parallel to King Road.
n A trail just west of Riverside Road that would follow a belt of green land and run between McConnell Road and King Road.
n More information about Special Study Area C, a block of farmland south of UFV that the Official Community Plan suggested be considered as an athletic park with fields that could host tournaments and events. The plan says the site will be analyzed after the city adopts a new parks, recreation and culture masterplan. Another special study area identified in the OCP is located south of DeLair Park.
n A future hotel or conference centre could be well-suited for properties to the northwest of the Salton/King Road intersection.
The city will be holding two open houses on Feb. 6 to discuss the plan and gather more feedback. One will take place in the library rotunda at UFV from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m., the other will be in the front entrance of Abbotsford Centre from 5 to 8 p.m.
