Background

     Simon Fraser University's history started in 1963 when the city of Burnaby agreed to donate1000 acres to vie for the university site. The university started small, opening with 2500 students in September 1965. In 1970 the city of Burnaby started to negotiate the return of some of the university's lands to create a park, which marked the beginning of the process towards an agreement in principle for developing a sustainable community. In 1995, the Burnaby Mountain Community Corporation (BMCC) was formed to increase the community by using the 160 acres within the ring road at Simon Fraser University. Their overarching goal is to build private homes, businesses, parks, and an elementary school as a way to encourage social diversity, and a sustainable community of over 4500 people. A second objective is to create an Endowment Fund and other sources of revenue to support a wide range of University purposes including new student housing.

     The university received permission to build the community when it traded 773 acres outside of the ring road for the rights to expand within the ring road. The first phase will take approximately 7 to 10 years to complete, and will include the development of the east section of SFU which is focused on building privately owned high density housing. Townhomes, apartments, condominiums and cooperatives ranging in height from 2 to 10 stories will be built to accommodate homeowners and tenants. The south neighborhood, as seen in our website, will not be developed for at least 7 years. The final community will see 1800 residences in a self-sustained community, which will accommodate faculty, staff and students, in addition to any other people who wish to live at the university. To reduce automotive traffic, transportation will be emphasized with bike trails, walkways, and public transit. In approximately 15 years, the final phase will be complete and the face of the university will have changed from the present commuter campus to an accomplished sustainable community.