Yes, and it catches people out. The UEL is unincorporated land organised under the University Endowment Land Act, with the Minister of Municipal Affairs holding the authority and the UEL Administration running land use, bylaws, local streets and utilities. Development permits, building permits and inspection all go through the Administration. The arterials through the area are owned and maintained by the Ministry of Transportation and Transit on top of that.

Some of the system still is. The UEL’s own 2026 Official Community Plan says future work is needed to fully separate sewer and storm systems, and the Works and Services Bylaw still provides for storm services to be temporarily connected to a combined sanitary and storm sewer where a dedicated storm sewer does not exist. Portions of the storm and sanitary sewers in the plan area date to the 1950s.

Because of what you are built on. The plateau here is slow glacial till over Quadra sand with thin clay layers running through it, and those clay layers block groundwater and push it sideways toward the cliff face rather than letting it drain down. A camera on the perimeter tells you whether the tile is still moving that water, and the sump design has to assume water keeps arriving after the sky clears.

Not near the cliffs, no. Infiltration into the upper soil strata has been found to cause erosion at the Point Grey cliffs, and a UBC stormwater study specifies an impermeable geomembrane liner below anything that facilitates infiltration. The bylaw asks you to infiltrate on site only where it will not destabilise steep slopes, and to reduce post development flow back to pre development levels.

To splash pads. The bylaw’s storm sewer clause says roof drains are to be discharged to splash pads and not to service connections unless it is otherwise approved. If a plumber wires your roof leaders straight into the storm service here, they are working off a City of Vancouver habit rather than the UEL rule.

The canopy makes it likely. Metro Vancouver data puts UEL tree canopy cover at 80.4% in 2020, down from 82.4% in 2014. The bylaw sets minimum planting distances of 2 metres from sewer and storm services and 3 metres from catch basins, valve boxes and manholes, and the approved large boulevard species list includes Norway maple, common horsechestnut, red oak and western red cedar.

Often enough that the fall leaf load never wins. The UEL puts this on residents directly: clearing any lawn basins or catch basins of leaves and debris in front of your property is listed as a homeowner responsibility, along with mowing, litter and snow clearing. On a treed lot next to the park that is a bigger job than it sounds.

Not quite, and it matters for permits. Hampton Place is one of the University Neighbourhoods Association neighbourhoods on UBC campus land, alongside Chancellor Place, East Campus, Hawthorn Place and Wesbrook Place. It sits at the northeast corner of West 16th Avenue and Wesbrook Mall, about 957 units in 11 buildings, opened in 1989. We work there. We just work to the right authority for the address.

It came in waves rather than one build out. The first residential lots were sold by public auction in 1925, the Depression and wartime shortages slowed the 1930s and 1940s, and growth came in the 1950s, 1970s and 2000s. Area D alone counts 39 units from the 1920s, 111 from the 1950s, 220 from the 1970s and 743 from the 2000s.

No travel surcharge. The UEL, West Point Grey, Dunbar and Kerrisdale are all the same pricing.