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‘Campus greenway’ envisioned for UVic; design takes cue from nature, Indigenous history

Pedestrians and cyclists will share a wider pathway through the University of Victoria campus that’s inspired by nature and Indigenous history under a newly completed design plan.

Pedestrians and cyclists will share a wider pathway through the University of Victoria campus that’s inspired by nature and Indigenous history under a newly completed design plan.

Planners at the university have set out design guidelines that include visions for a “campus greenway.”

It will be a pathway, wide enough to separate cyclists from pedestrians, stretching 1.3 kilometres from Gordon Head Road near Midgard Place in the west straight across campus to Sinclair Road in the east.

The UVic Campus Greenway Landscape Plan and Design Guidelines was completed after several years of public feedback and workshop-style consultations.

“One of the big urban design ideas that came out was this idea of a campus greenway to create this walk-able and bike-able connection from Gordon Head Road to Sinclair,” said Mike Wilson, UVic director of campus planning and sustainability.

It’s hoped elements of UVic’s natural setting and Indigenous tradition, art and design can be incorporated into the greenway.

Two gateways, near Gordon Head Road and the other near Sinclair Road, will be clearly identified as entranceways to UVic. Along the greenway, invasive plants will be removed. Where possible, they will be replaced with indigenous plantings.

Wilson said the greenway will be completed in three phases alongside construction of new buildings or other structures.

The first phase will begin on the east side of campus, alongside the new student housing and dining facilities, construction of which is scheduled to begin as early as this year.

Wilson said the new plan for the campus greenway began with a look at the overall campus plan completed in the years following 1963, when UVic opened.

He said during the 1960s the student body grew to about 12,000, then considered the optimum number. Now the population is about 22,000 and the original campus plan is out of date.

The new design guidelines identify the central grassy quadrangle as the heart of the campus.

Bollards and barricades will be erected to keep motor vehicles off the area, which is envisioned as a space for walking and cycling.

But Wilson said pathways through the quadrangle must be widened to accommodate and/or separate cyclists and walkers. Both are now moving onto grassy areas around root zones of pin oaks planted in rows during the 1960s. They are now mature and beloved icons of the university.

Traffic near the pin oak root zones is compacting the soil, making it less permeable to rainwater and the pin oak trees have suffered. One has already succumbed to disease and was removed.

“That was kind of an alarm bell for our grounds staff and the administration,” said Wilson.

By redesigning the paved pathways and devising protection for the root zones of the pin oaks, now about 20 metres high, it’s hoped they can continue to thrive.

Another element of UVic encountered by planners during public-feedback sessions was the attachment and respect for the culture of Indigenous peoples.

Any new paving stones laid along the greenway will be arranged in a way meant to remind viewers of cedar-bark weaving. It was a traditional craft of coastal Indigenous peoples for making baskets, capes and fabric covers. “We want to make weaving a characteristic of the greenway’s place,” said Wilson.

Also, along the new greenway will be signs and interpretive billboards drawing attention to its ecology, design and cultural elements. “We are looking for ways to educate students about the history of the Garry oak eco-system as well as how the campus was used by Indigenous people and is still being used,” said Wilson.

rwatts@timescolonist.com