UBC residents petitioning to save trees threatened by campus development

Neighbours of a proposed development on the University of British Columbia's Vancouver campus are calling for changes to the plan in hopes of preserving dozens of trees in the area. (CTV)

Neighbours of a proposed development on the University of British Columbia's Vancouver campus are calling for changes to the plan in hopes of preserving dozens of trees in the area.

The proposal before the UBC Development Permit Board calls for the construction of two new buildings for the expansion of Carey Theological College, an evangelical Christian seminary located on the UBC campus. 

The college is proposing to replace the existing Carey Hall with a four-storey, mixed-use building, and to construct a new, six-storey residential building south of the existing Carey Centre.

"It's extremely troubling," said Su Wang, who has started a petition against the project as it's currently designed, arguing that more effort should be made to save the trees in the area.

A total of 31 trees are proposed to be removed as part of the development. Wang, a former UBC student who lives in the on-campus neighbourhood, told CTV News several of the trees are over 100 years old.

She cited the work of UBC researcher Suzanne Simard, who has demonstrated that trees are connected to each other through underground fungal networks, allowing them to co-operate - rather than compete - for resources. 

Wang argues that cutting down the trees would be damaging to the local ecosystem, and she says most of her neighbours agree.

"The vast majority of residents around UBC that we have spoken to have supported us," Wang said.

As of Saturday evening, her online petition had gathered more than 18,000 signatures. 

One of those signatures belongs to Harry Maier, a professor of new testament and early Christian studies at Vancouver School of Theology, who also lives near Carey Hall.

"All across the campus, trees are being felled, and there are large residences, apartments or townhouses going up, and that's really increasing the density and I'm not really seeing the trees being replaced," Maier said.

He said he's not opposed to the college expanding, but he doesn't want it to happen at the expense of so many trees.

"I think that Carey Hall will meet us in good faith," he said. "I trust that. And (I think) that when we sit down and we talk and we lay out our concerns, that there will be a revision to the plan."

A virtual public open house for the project is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 16. Wang said she plans to present her petition and the feedback she's received from her neighbours to the college and the university at that time.

"I'm very grateful to everyone who has shown their support," she said.