A Q&A with Joe Stott on his retirement.
In May Joe Stott retired from UBC, leaving a legacy that can be seen and experienced in every corner of campus.
He joined the University’s planning department in 2003 having worked in local government in the Lower Mainland for 25 years. From 1989 to 1999, he was a senior planner with the Greater Vancouver Regional District (Metro Vancouver).
In the 1980s, Joe worked in planning departments in three Lower Mainland municipalities: Vancouver, Richmond and Langley. He developed the economic development strategy for Langley, the town centre neighbourhood plan for Richmond, and, as part of the Vancouver Coreplan team, he worked on the successful shift in the development program in downtown Vancouver, setting the stage for the establishment of a new urban residential neighbourhood in the heart of the city. During this period, he served on the council for the Planning Institute of British Columbia.
Joe is a member of the Society of College and University Planning (SCUP) and served on the SCUP Awards committee in 2008-2009. He completed his graduate degree in planning at the University of Toronto in 1979.
Q: What was your first job, and what life-long lesson did you learn from it?
When I was in high school in Inuvik NWT, my first job was with the Hudson’s Bay Company store. I worked in the grocery department for $1.00 an hour. The job confirmed for me that an education was key to a future career.
Q: What are some memories of your early days at UBC?
Campus and Community Planning was a small unit within the old Land and Building Services. There were four neighbourhood planning processes underway simultaneously and many evening and weekend hours of campus community consultation.
Q: Out of all the projects you have worked on, which has been the most inspiring to you?
I would have to say the realization of the vision for mixed-use student housing, academic, and service hubs in the Vancouver Campus Plan. The idea took root during the middle phases of the multi-year (2006-2010) campus planning exercise. We are completing the first of these hubs, Ponderosa Commons, with the second, Orchard Commons, well underway.
Q: As a leader in the planning profession, what advice would you give a person interested in a planning career?
There is a reasonably wide spectrum of planning roles, so try to find the stream you will be most comfortable. And, if you are working with residents, make sure you have a thick skin.
Q: What might someone be surprised to know about you?
That I toured the UK and France on a motorcycle in 1971 and I have two collector motorcycles in my garage.
Q: You are known to enjoy a good prank. What is the best prank from your time at UBC?
When we were doing workshops for the Campus Plan a group of protesters appeared dressed in costumes of common garden vegetables. Their issue was the UBC Farm. After they finished their chants and slogans, and an outright challenge to define sustainability, they settled down and we were able to keep the workshop focused on its purpose.
Q: What are you looking forward to most during retirement?
I hope that I can work with the “gruntled” now that my job of dealing with the “disgruntled” is over.