Burnaby City Council rejects off-campus SFU student housing proposal with 1,400 units

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The sloped site is located at the northwest corner of the intersection of Broadway and North Road — just east of the Gaglardi Way major access road to the campus — as well as about a 10-minute walk to SkyTrain’s Burquitlam Station, and roughly a 15-minute bus ride to the SFU campus atop Burnaby Mountain on the No. 143 Burquitlam/SFU bus route.

The proposed project is within the provincial government’s legislated 800-metre Transit Oriented Area radius around Burquitlam Station. The municipal government’s forthcoming Burnaby 2050 Official Community Plan — which is expected to see a final review and approval by City Council before the end of this year — also enables residential uses of up to 12 storeys for the site.

Forum worked with architectural firm Gensler and urban planning firm Urban Strategies to create a concept of four terraced buildings, with two buildings on the southern half of the land assembly — closest to the SkyTrain station — reaching up to 16 storeys, and two buildings on the northern half reaching up to 11 storeys and 12 storeys.

The submitted rezoning application calls for a total of about 1,405 homes, including 950 dedicated purpose-built student housing units and 450 secured purpose-built rental housing units for general rental uses.

With 1,405 units — more than two-thirds of which are designated for student housing, which typically accommodates more beds — the complex could potentially house several thousand people.

The student housing component would be geared for “latter-stage post-secondary students,” as SFU Burnaby’s on-campus student residence options lack capacity for such students. There would be a range of unit size types — everything from small dormitory-style micro studio units that are roughly 215 sq. ft. to three-bedroom units reaching about 900 sq. ft.

Right now, City policies permit small student dormitory-style units if they are run by a post-secondary institution and located within 800 meters of the campus. Separately, it was also noted that the City is in the process of potentially creating citywide zoning rules that regulate privately-owned and operated purpose-built student housing. During the deliberations, City of Burnaby staff noted that the developer has been in contact with SFU to arrange a potential relationship or partnership.

To support the residential density and the unique needs of students, there would be about 74,000 sq. ft. of indoor amenity space across the four buildings, plus outdoor amenity spaces, plazas, and pedestrian routes. There would also be commercial retail/restaurant uses on the ground level, fronting Broadway and North Road.

City staff had recommended to City Council that they be permitted to continue their work with the proponent to prepare and refine a potentially suitable proposal for further consideration at a later date, with more details outlined in a subsequent report. At this stage, City staff were requesting the early endorsement for the potential consideration of the project’s very rough density, height, scope, and uses.

“City staff support the continuation of work with the applicant on the development concept and the proposed relaxations to unit sizes, recognizing the need for additional student housing options in the area, and the contribution purpose-built student housing has on overall housing affordability,” reads a City staff report.

The recommendation was rejected by a majority of City Council, with only City Councillor Pietro Calendino voting in favour of further consideration of the proposal.

“We had a presentation by students a year ago, saying that they would love to have off-campus housing. I realized that the number of the units in this place are micro units, and the micro units is what BCIT has just built,” said Calendino, emphasizing that the close proximity to the SFU campus makes it a suitable location.

“Simon Fraser does not have the ability to build any more student housing because the provincial government is not providing any funding for them.”

Those who voted against the recommendation said they were not against more student housing, but were primarily concerned for the potential environmental impacts — deeming this particular site to be in a sensitive area, as it is adjacent to the forested area of Burnaby Mountain and Stoney Creek.

City councillor Alison Gu raised the need to consider natural hazard risks such as wildfires and flooding.

City councillor Sav Dhaliwal said Stoney Creek is now “very fragile” due to recent major building developments along the North Road and Clarke Road corridor near Burquitlam Station, asserting that the waterway “has been basically under attack” as a result of such projects.

“We have received numerous appeals, letters, phone calls, everything about what’s happening to Stoney Creek. This is what unchecked development sometimes does, and those are the results that we see.”

There are a few endangered fish species living in the stream, which has suffered ecological damage from increased sediment caused by nearby building construction, as well as sewage and stormwater overflows during heavy rainfall and other forms of pollution. In addition, for many years, SFU’s road salt supply was previously stored in an open facility at the top of the mountain, which also contributed to the stream’s contamination.

Stoney Creek’s source is at Burnaby Mountain, and it flows through residential neighbourhoods and parks before emptying out at where the Brunette River meets Burnaby Lake.

A secondary concern for the development concept focused on potential livability issues with the size of the micro studio student housing units and the affordability of the rents offered, which would presumably be market rate given that it is a private development.

“I am incredibly supportive of student housing. I’m incredibly supportive of working with SFU. When SFU delivers student housing, I have some level of confidence that they will be trying to meet affordability targets. They will try to meet a level of quality of housing that, unfortunately, with a private development like this, I don’t know that that is in place,” said Gu.

According to Forum’s website, one of the company’s real estate development focuses is in operating privately-owned and operated purpose-built student housing. In Eastern Canada, it has a portfolio of thousands of student housing units in numerous buildings, generally conveniently located near university campuses, including some located within city centres — capturing some of the major housing demand generated by students that is unmet on campuses.

Within Metro Vancouver, over the past decade, spurred by student housing demand that spills out into the general rental housing market, there has also been a major growth in privately-owned and operated purpose-built student housing supply — particularly from companies such as Global Education Communities, which has quickly become one of the province’s single largest builders and operators of purpose-built student housing.

Since 2018, SFU has built three new purpose-built student housing buildings at its Burnaby campus, with the most recent project being the nearby 2023-built Courtyard student residence or the second phase of the on-campus student housing master plan, which generated 383 beds for first-year students. Over the past seven years, a combined total of 941 new student housing beds have been built on the campus.

This past spring, construction began on the third phase — an 11-storey building with 383 student housing beds. When complete in Fall 2027, SFU Burnaby will have just over 3,000 on-campus student housing beds — enough to house eight per cent of the university’s student population.

Upon the completion of the future fourth and fifth phases, which are the final phases of the student housing master plan, SFU will be able to offer on-campus student housing to 10 per cent of its students.

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