Plans to locate a hospice near student residences—Vanier and Marine Drive—have been scrapped due to negative feedback from community and student consultation.
The consultative process, led by Campus and Community Planning (CCP), included an open-house for the campus community as well as correspondence and consultations with administrative groups such as the AMS
Campus Planning and Development Committee (CPDC), UBC administration and Board of Governors (BoG).
“While the community generally supports the concept of a hospice, we have received objections to the location on Marine Drive, south of the intersection with University Boulevard,” explained Joe Stott, Director of Campus and Community Planning, “Consequently, the University and the sponsors of the project, the Order of St John and the Faculty of Medicine, have decided to search for a new location for the hospice on the UBC Vancouver Point Grey campus.”
Bijan Ahmadian, one of the elected student members of the BoG and chair of the CPDC, said the decision to change the hospice location demonstrates how constructive engagement between students and the university can produce results.
“The location is now potentially available for amenities that can improve the student experience for those living in that neighbourhood,” said Ahmadian, adding that “the change in location prevents creating a dysfunctional interface between students and hospice residents.”
The “dysfunctional interface,” many believed, would have been caused by noise created by resident traffic, which would have been exacerbated by plans to increase the number of resident beds in Totem Park, and restaurant additions to the Marine Drive Commons Block. This type of noise, many students believed, may not have been compatible with the desired hospice atmosphere.
Stott explained that the evaluation of alternative sites will be considered by the President’s Property and Planning Advisory Committee (PPPAC), and the choice of the site will then be ratified by the UBC Executive and the BoG.
Ahmadian hopes to “explore options for including students in a collaborative way” in the search for another appropriate location for the hospice.
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