"When we look back in the decades to come, I think 2010 will be remembered as the year that UniverCity went from being a fabulous idea to being a fabulous community."

Gordon Harris, the president and CEO of the SFU Community Trust, is talking about what many people view as a breakthrough year for the burgeoning community on Burnaby Mountain. UniverCity, the model of urban sustainability adjacent to Canada's leading comprehensive university, has been on the drawing board for nearly half a century. Harris says, "What we're seeing today is the realization of a vision that Arthur Erickson and Geoff Massey inspired when they submitted their first drawings of SFU."

Even in 1963, architects Erickson and Massey were imagining what we think of today as a compact, mixed-use, transit-oriented community, founded on principles of sustainability. Just such a community has been emerging ever since the City of Burnaby approved the Official Community Plan in 1996. "But," Harris says, "some of the changes that occurred this year have really brought that vision to life. UniverCity is no longer just a beautiful place to go at the end of the day; it's a place to live and play, a place to work and shop, and a place to study, whether you're eight or 80."

The community took its first big step of 2010 with the January opening of Nesters Market. The 23,000-square-foot store removed immediately and forever the need for residents to trek down the mountain to secure the necessities of life. Nesters offers a full selection of groceries, meats, and produce, including organic and natural. Add the pharmacy and post office and you have an informal gathering place that provides the feel of a real community. For 28,000 students and 3,000 residents of UniverCity, Harris says, "the opening of Nesters was a gift of time and convenience.

"It has changed the character of the High Street. It brings out people and families after six o'clock, generating activity in the evenings and on the weekend. People say that somehow the community now feels bigger than before."

The next huge change was marked by the September 7 opening of the University Highlands Elementary School. UniverCity had already developed as a family-oriented neighbourhood: the most recent community survey revealed that 29 percent of UniverCity households have children, which is one percentage point higher than the Burnaby average. Now those children – many of whom had been snoozing through long commutes to school and back – have a place to learn and play that is in easy walking distance from their homes. Funded by the Community Trust, the Burnaby Board of Education, the B.C. Ministry of Education, and the City of Burnaby, the school occupies a former university building that was expanded and renovated to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards.

In addition to energy-efficiency upgrades, water-efficient landscaping, and smart meters, the school has an outdoor amphitheatre and classrooms, all designed to complement a curriculum focused on sustainability and community engagement. And after hours much of the building will be available to local residents, introducing another "centre" of community.

Rendering of UniverCity's future childcare centre (under construction). This building will be one of the first in Canada to be certified as a living building.

The overlapping themes of family orientation and sustainability leadership are also evident in another undertaking aimed decidedly at the younger set. The Trust is currently working on a new childcare centre that, when completed later this year, is aiming to be Canada's first "living building," a truly sustainable structure that, among other things, produces more energy than it uses.

Projects of this quality are possible only because of the support and creativity of partners – including the City of Burnaby. The City has approved a zoning bylaw that is unique in North America. "This is an innovative and far-sighted bylaw that will put the City of Burnaby, SFU, and UniverCity at the forefront of the global sustainable building movement," says Harris.

The bylaw sets a minimum standard for energy efficiency that is 30 percent above conventional buildings, and it offers a 10 percent density bonus to developers who can increase their building efficiency by half as much again. All facilities built within the newly approved zone must use interior finishings that are free of volatile organic compounds and other potentially harmful chemicals. New buildings must also manage all stormwater on site.

"These requirements sound stringent – they are – but they are also achievable," says Dale Mikkelsen, manager of planning and sustainability. "We've worked hard to ensure that our partners can meet our standards and create attractive and affordable projects."

The zoning bylaw creates 11 new building sites with an allowable total of 1.1 million square feet of residential space captured within 1,250 new condos and apartments. "It sets the stage for the next five to seven years of development," Mikkelsen says.

Stepping immediately onto that stage are three high-quality regional developers, confident that the UniverCity success will continue apace.
First, both Porte Development and Mosaic Homes have launched low-rise, wood-frame urban apartment-style projects that will fit perfectly into the existing community. Porte Development has pre-sold more than two-thirds of the 75 units in the Origin project, while Mosaic Homes has now sold out its 80-unit Nest project.

(l to r) Burnaby mayor Derek Corrigan; SFU Community Trust President, CEO Gordon Harris; and Buy-Low Foods President and General Manager, Dan Bregg, at the opening of Nesters Market.

Explaining his company's participation, Kerry Kukucha, development director at Porte, says, "We could really see the potential that is evolving as UniverCity becomes a more complete community, especially with the new school and Nesters. The vision and the work that Gordon Harris and his staff are doing is creating a great environment that is enhanced by the natural attributes of the mountain itself."

The third developer is Liberty Homes, on board to build a 12-storey concrete tower at Highland Court and University Crescent in the heart of the community. It will include 104 new units, and Liberty has committed to reaching the highest energy efficiency standards, 45 percent above code.

"We're delighted to be working with Liberty again," Harris says. The developer's last project in UniverCity was the Hub building: 146 condos, Nesters, the pharmacy, post office, and café. "It was a six-storey building on a very small footprint, in the middle of the High Street. Liberty did a great job of delivering an incredibly attractive and high-quality project."

The question of fitting in with the existing community is central to Trust planning when it comes to new development. "We think a lot about the people who we hope will move to UniverCity in the future, but our immediate obligation is to the people who are here already," says Harris.

According to the latest community survey, the positive sentiment among current residents is on the rise: 95 percent of respondents said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their community, up from 89 percent in the 2007 survey. "It's also a point of interest that about 40 percent of current residents have some immediate connection with SFU, either as students, faculty, or staff," Harris says. "On one hand, that means we are providing a complete community – a place to live and work, and a beautiful and fabulously equipped place to play, giving community access to university infrastructure. But it's equally interesting that another 60 percent of residents have chosen to move here exclusively because of the quality of the community and the strength of the amenities. It's gratifying that so many people regard UniverCity as a destination in its own right."

The survey also indicates that the community is keeping its environmental footprint small. In addition to the 22 percent of the people who walk to school or work, another 36 percent commute on transit; that's three times the average for Burnaby.

Minimizing the community's footprint will continue to be a central focus. The most far-reaching project is probably the planned energy plant that is being designed to feed one of the largest community-based energy utilities in North America. The system could ultimately provide heat and hot water to seven million square feet of residential development and a further 10 million square feet of institutional space on the SFU campus. Neighbourhood energy utilities have the capacity to save energy and money by providing heat and hot water from a single generating source, rather than by forcing each building owner to buy and install separate heating units. The energy generator will be fired at first from waste biomass diverted from Metro Vancouver landfills. Ultimately, however, the system may operate from waste heat generated from the university's extensive data centre.

The Trust is partnering with Corix Industries, which is working on detailed design and planning to begin the permitting process this year. Corix has submitted the business case and operational model to the British Columbia Utilities Commission to ensure the system will meet high public standards for cost and reliability, even as it sets new standards for sustainability. The Trust is also working closely with SFU to potentially expand this system to serve the campus precinct.

"One of the great aspects of new master plan developments is the opportunity to establish this kind of foundational infrastructure," says Mikkelsen. "A neighbourhood utility service would be incredibly difficult and much more expensive to retrofit into an existing community. We have the chance here to do things sustainably and affordably right from the start."

There also may be a chance to build another innovative and iconic piece of infrastructure that will further reduce the community's energy usage and physical footprint. The Trust is working with TransLink to explore the practicality of a gondola that would replace buses as the principal form of mass transportation between the Production Way – University SkyTrain station and the top of the mountain.

"We have a mandate here to build a different kind of community," Harris says. "The gondola provides a real opportunity to decrease the carbon footprint of thousands of people travelling to and from the hill, all while saving money."

The SFU Community Trust's once-blank canvas is filling in nicely. Liberty's 12-storey project will soon be under way, and the Trust is releasing new development parcels for two other residential buildings, adding between 200 and 300 housing units per year as the community makes its way to an ultimate population of 10,000 or more. The gondola proposal continues to gain attention, and the neighbourhood energy utility is progressing in time to connect to the childcare centre when it opens later this year.

"We are very proud of the work done to date – and very conscious of our responsibility to protect and enhance the quality of life on Burnaby Mountain, even as we continue to show the world that you can develop a very livable and affordable community that is also sustainable in a manner that is respectful to the surrounding community and gentle on the natural environment," says Harris. "That's our goal, this year and for every year to come.". aq

Aerial Photography and Nesters photo courtesy of SFU Community Trust, Rendering Hughes Condon Marler Archtects

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