Welcome to The Environmentalist, your column for understanding the natural world. Today we will be questioning what happens when green space becomes concrete parking.
If you have been away from UFV for the summer, upon returning you may notice something missing from the southern edge of campus: trees. Their removal is connected to a much larger redevelopment planned for the Abbotsford campus.
In March, UFV announced that Campus Communities, operated through the UFV Properties Trust, plans to develop university-owned land currently occupied by surface parking. The first phase will focus on lots four and five at the north end of campus, but UFV stated that new parking would first be built on the south end to avoid losing parking spaces. Campus Communities’ consultation report goes further, committing to a one-to-one ratio replacement of parking lost to development and identifying both new southern surface parking and a future parkade as part of that plan.
The consultation for Campus Communities saw that parking was not the only thing the UFV community showed interest in. Within those who we consulted about access, 68 per cent of respondents cited parking within short walking distance as their number one priority. Additionally, the report highlights the importance of the environmental stewardship expectation of natural areas of cultural significance including the preservation of mature trees, protection of UFV wetlands, and creation of more naturalized landscapes. Moreover, greenery and natural spaces were also a first priority for 46 per cent of the answers received around Campus Communities. In other words, the community was not choosing between parking and green space, it was asking for both.
The southern edge of campus has also been recognized by UFV as environmentally significant in the past. In its 2016 Abbotsford Campus Master Plan, UFV identified the forested areas south of campus as having ecological value and explicitly stated that they were not considered for development. The same plan later emphasized how invaluable the campus forests and trees are, that they provide wildlife habitat and reduce the urban heat island effect, and recommended that existing tree habitat be protected and impacts from new development minimized.
While the loss of individual trees in urban areas may seem insignificant, the conversion of vegetation to pavement has far-reaching consequences. Impervious surfaces in urban areas increase surface runoff by reducing the ability of rainfall to infiltrate into the ground. As cities expand, the loss and fragmentation of these habitats threatens to place increasing pressure on urban biodiversity.
Campus Communities could be a great project for UFV by bringing housing, shops, and more developable space to what are currently just parking lots. However, such projects have hidden environmental impacts. Trading green space for parking is especially worth questioning given UFV’s own commitments with the environmental stewardship, which means caring not only what a project might create but also what is quietly being displaced in the process. As the Lorax once said, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better.” So, let’s care.
