This Friday is the deadline for municipalities to submit letters of interest for the Tri-State Transportation Campaign/One Region Funders’ Group’s Transit-Oriented Development community assistance grant program.

The program provides grants between $10,000 and $50,000 for municipalities interested [...]]]>

Municipalities interested in transit-oriented development: This could be you! (Photo of award ceremony at Stratford, CT.)

This Friday is the deadline for municipalities to submit letters of interest for the Tri-State Transportation Campaign/One Region Funders’ Group’s Transit-Oriented Development community assistance grant program.

The program provides grants between $10,000 and $50,000 for municipalities interested in pursuing equitable transit-oriented development. The grants can be used for planning and public outreach in southwestern Connecticut (Fairfield and New Haven Counties), northern New Jersey (the NJTPA region), Long Island, Westchester County, and New York City.

For more information, download the RFP (request for proposals) on Tri-State’s website or contact Steven Higashide (steven@tstc.org or 212-268-7474).

Our friends over at the Long Island Index have launched a new website as part of their Build a Better Burb project. In addition to being really, really sleek, the website has tons of information about Long Island downtowns, short backgrounders on transit-oriented development, and lots of profiles of [...]]]>

Our friends over at the Long Island Index have launched a new website as part of their Build a Better Burb project. In addition to being really, really sleek, the website has tons of information about Long Island downtowns, short backgrounders on transit-oriented development, and lots of profiles of innovative development projects.  Take a break from the bad news and check out some of the good stuff.

Last week, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy announced the approval of the state’s first ever transit-oriented development assistance grants.  During the Rell administration, Tri-State advocated for over three years for the release of $5 million that [...]]]>

Stratford plans to reorganize the area around its rail station and promote transit-oriented development. (Click to view larger.)

Last week, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy announced the approval of the state’s first ever transit-oriented development assistance grants.  During the Rell administration, Tri-State advocated for over three years for the release of $5 million that had been dedicated for that purpose, and urged Governor Malloy early on to support the release of this funding. In one of his first acts as Governor and Chairman of the State Bond Commission, he delivered.

The grants will be given to eleven municipalities throughout the state. More than double that number applied, for a total of $13.2 million in requests.

Most of the grants, ranging from $250,000 to $850,000, will be used to help plan and prepare for transit-oriented development around the State’s current and future transit projects — the New Haven Line, the Hartford-New Britain Bus Rapid Transit project, and the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield rail line.  The support will pay for, among other items, the implementation of New Britain’s “Streetscaping” Master Plan, the enhancement of bicycle and pedestrian connections along the Waterbury and New Haven lines in Derby and Shelton and the adoption of a transit-oriented development “overlay zone” in the City of Hartford to facilitate development around Union Station.

Tri-State is particularly pleased that the Town of Stratford will receive $250,000 in pilot funding to move forward on its transit-oriented development plan and draft ordinance. In 2009, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign and One Region Funders’ Group awarded Stratford a $50,000 community assistance grant and are excited that the Town was able to use this seed grant to leverage additional resources for its transit friendly development efforts.

In a statement applauding Governor Malloy for his leadership and recognizing the efforts of all the municipalities, Tri-State also noted that, with over $8 million worth of projects unable to be funded due to limited resources, expanding upon and institutionalizing this pilot program will be necessary to adequately meet the need for smarter and more transit oriented growth in Connecticut’s future.

Image: Stratford presentation at TSTC/One Region conference.

A promising transit-oriented development project around the Ronkonkoma LIRR station in Suffolk County seems to be moving forward, thanks to an unusual amount of cooperation between two bordering municipalities. The Town of Brookhaven (which includes the station [...]]]>

A conceptual image of what a transit-oriented development near the Ronkonkoma LIRR station could look like.

A promising transit-oriented development project around the Ronkonkoma LIRR station in Suffolk County seems to be moving forward, thanks to an unusual amount of cooperation between two bordering municipalities. The Town of Brookhaven (which includes the station and the area north of the tracks) and the Town of Islip (which includes the area south of the tracks) are collaborating on efforts to bring mixed-use development to what is now a sea of surface parking.

Besides coordinating development plans, the towns have also formally agreed to cooperate on seeking funding for sewage treatment and other infrastructure improvements.

In a 2010 concept plan, Brookhaven envisioned about 650 housing units in 3-4 story townhouses or apartments, and more than 100,000 square feet for office space, retail, restaurant, and other commercial development for its part of the site. Plans for the Islip portion are further off. Islip officials also say they see the project going hand-in-hand with their plans to attract another carrier to MacArthur Airport.

So far, Brookhaven Town officials have received four expressions of interest from developers for the northern portion of the site. They are also competing for funds through New York State’s recently created Regional Economic Development Councils.

Brookhaven was one of seven municipalities that received funds from a TSTC/One Region Funders Group grant program for groundbreaking TOD projects in 2009. At a conference to share the grant results earlier this year, the town said coordination with Islip was one of the project’s most important unanswered questions. Brookhaven and Islip are answering it in fine fashion so far.

“Wyandanch Rising” Project Keeps Rising

Another ambitious Long Island project that’s been supported by the TSTC/One Region Funders Group program, the Wyandanch Rising initiative, has also been progressing. Last month, the project received a $2 million federal grant for transportation improvements such as a plaza, bus pick-up and drop-off locations closer to the LIRR station, bike storage, and a reconfiguration of the road network. The Long Island Business News also reports that the Town of Babylon has been holding hearings to get public input on new, “form-based” zoning codes that will guide the aesthetic feel of the project.

The area around the Wyandanch LIRR station is both economically distressed and has major environmental challenges, such as a high water table. As a result, development around the station is designed to use “low-impact” techniques like green roofs and rain gardens which reduce stormwater runoff and energy use.

Image: Via Town of Brookhaven.

This summer, the MTA/Metro-North put out its first ever Request for Proposals for transit-oriented development (TOD). Branded “It’s Happening in Harrison,” this project involves transforming 3.28 acres of surface parking adjacent to Westchester County’s Harrison train station [...]]]>

A rendering of what the development could look like, from the Harrison Station Conceptual Master Plan.

This summer, the MTA/Metro-North put out its first ever Request for Proposals for transit-oriented development (TOD). Branded “It’s Happening in Harrison,” this project involves transforming 3.28 acres of surface parking adjacent to Westchester County’s Harrison train station into a mixed-use development with the goal of  revitalizing the community.

Harrison’s downtown is right next to Metro-North’s New Haven Line. Ridership at the station is the second highest of any station on the NY section of the line, with 2,300 daily trips and a one-seat ride to Manhattan that takes 35 minutes. The Town and Village are served by the Bee-Line bus, and are also cross-hatched by the major auto arterials of Westchester—interstates 95, 287, 684 as well as the Hutchinson River Parkway are all within 2 ½ miles of the station—so with the right conditions, it may be possible to lure more riders onto transit via intermodal connections.

The exact dimensions of the development have yet to be finalized, since the Town Board needs to first approve new transit-oriented development zoning regulations. But for several years, the Harrison community and MTA/Metro-North have laid the groundwork for community consensus by collaborating on and developing a draft TOD zoning law, design guidelines, and a pre-development agreement, all designed to encourage street-level retail and restaurants, upper-level residential units, and good multi-modal connections. The draft regulations allow for buildings up to 5 stories and require bike parking and the placement of any surface parking behind a building’s frontage. They also encourage shared parking lots and allow residential developers to build additional housing units if their buildings include workforce housing or meet the LEED Silver green building guidelines.

For long-term public-private projects like this to succeed, buy-in from all involved parties is crucial. As Metro-North President Howard Permut stated at the pre-bid meeting held in July, “politicians can win or lose elections if there is disagreement on the development,” and thus jeopardize developers’ willingness to commit dollars and time.  Mayor Joan Walsh emphasized that the project has strong bipartisan support, as well as support from the NYS Department of State, which awarded the project a Smart Growth Grant last year.

The RFP does emphasize the parking as a key component of the project. According to Mayor Walsh, commuters start filing into the parking lots at about 5 am, and the existing 254 spaces are filled by 8:10. The RFP calls for increasing capacity to 600 spots in a garage of up to five stories, with 500 spaces dedicated to commuters. MTA/Metro-North, which owns the two contiguous parcels under consideration, would use the proceeds from selling the land to build the parking garage first, via debt financing. It’s unclear how this additional parking will impact local traffic congestion and livability around the station.

According to the timeline, proposals from qualified developers are due on October 7, a developer will be chosen by early 2012.

Image: Harrison.

Prompted by NJ Future during an April 7 roundtable discussion at TransAction, a statewide transportation [...]]]> As we reported last week, NJDOT’s proposed fiscal year 2012 Capital Plan currently eliminates all funding for New Jersey’s Transit Village program; however, there may be a glimmer of hope that the money for this program will be reinstated.

Prompted by NJ Future during an April 7 roundtable discussion at TransAction, a statewide transportation conference, NJDOT Commissioner James Simpson began by echoing his previous justification for doing away with all financial backing for Transit Villages—essentially, that the program hadn’t been funded properly to begin with. However, Commissioner Simpson was quick to reaffirm the state’s commitment to transit and smart growth-related projects, and admitted that by failing to provide any money for the Transit Village program, NJDOT had “made a mistake” and was clearly “sending the wrong message.” When asked whether this meant that funding for the program would be restored, he responded with “no comment.”

What does this mean? It would appear that NJDOT has not ruled out reinstating funding for the Transit Village program. NJDOT’s position may become clearer after Commissioner Simpson testifies before the Senate Budget Committee on Wednesday.  In anticipation of the hearing, TSTC has reached out to each member of the committee; six have designated Transit Villages in their districts.

In Streetfilms’ latest video, Tri-State’s Kate Slevin and NJ Future’s Pete Kasabach explain some of the factors behind the success of transit-oriented development in northern New Jersey. The film is the first in a multi-part series called Moving Beyond the Automobile.

Areas like Jersey City and Hoboken are [...]]]> Click here to view the embedded video.

In Streetfilms’ latest video, Tri-State’s Kate Slevin and NJ Future’s Pete Kasabach explain some of the factors behind the success of transit-oriented development in northern New Jersey. The film is the first in a multi-part series called Moving Beyond the Automobile.

Areas like Jersey City and Hoboken are blessed with myriad transit options including the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail, the PATH rail service, and buses and ferries. But while new transit options like the light rail “unlocked the potential for development along the Hudson River waterfront,” in the words of NJ Transit’s Vivian Baker, zoning policy has also  played a key role. Robert Cotter, Jersey City’s Director of City Planning, explains that in much of the city developers are not required to provide any parking, and in some areas the amount of parking developers can provide is capped at a given ratio.

The result is an active street life, many billions of dollars in residential and commercial investment around transit, and neighborhoods where as few as 40% of households own a car. Take a look!

The Long Island Index recently announced the 23 finalists from its “Build a Better Burb” competition.  The competition challenged architects, urban designers, planners, students, visionaries and everyone else interested in shaping the future of Long Island to come up with [...]]]>

The competition entries range from neighborhood-level interventions to downtown plans and regional visions.

The Long Island Index recently announced the 23 finalists from its “Build a Better Burb” competition.  The competition challenged architects, urban designers, planners, students, visionaries and everyone else interested in shaping the future of Long Island to come up with bold ideas that would retrofit underutilized expanses of asphalt in Long Island downtowns into vibrant new uses.

All of the final 23 are innovative and range from creating an island-wide regional governance structure that would promote a carbon-neutral future to a more traditional, but still bold, redevelopment of downtown Riverhead.

The common trend running through the finalists is a desire to preserve open space and curb suburban sprawl by building up Long Island’s downtowns and expanding development near transit centers.

As in many design competitions, some of the finalists’ ideas are ambitious to the point of being pie-in-the-sky. But big problems demand ambitious solutions. If Long Island is to have a bright future in the 21st century, it may very well be on the basis of the ideas, big and small, presented here.

The polls are open through the end of August and you can vote for your favorite here. The LI Index is a project of the Rauch Foundation, a  supporter of TSTC’s work.

Images: Collage of images from four of the “Build a Better Burb” submissions.

Yesterday, Tri-State and the One Region Funders’ Group issued the largest of the eight grants in their transit-oriented development (TOD) grant program to the Town of Stratford [...]]]>

Left to right: Ashley Sklar of the Emily Tremaine Foundation, Yolanda Caldera-Durant of the Fairfield County Community Foundation, Veronica Vanterpool of TSTC, Stratford Mayor James Miron.

Yesterday, Tri-State and the One Region Funders’ Group issued the largest of the eight grants in their transit-oriented development (TOD) grant program to the Town of Stratford in Connecticut.  The $50,000 grant was presented to Stratford Mayor James Miron during a press event at Stratford Town Hall.  The grant will be used to create a community- and stakeholder-driven consensus around appropriate types of TOD in Stratford Center and build community awareness and support for transit-oriented development.

The efforts have broad support from the Mayor and stem from his participation in the 2007 Mayors’ Institute on City Design, a national program that works with local leaders to promote TCD and fine-tune their existing plans.

During the press conference, Tri-State associate director Veronica Vanterpool praised the Mayor’s recognition that “residents are craving communities that are different from the strip malls and the big box stores that characterized recent efforts in land use planning and development.  People are demanding sustainable solutions to congestion relief, new ways to promote economic development and more livable communities.” She said that “Mayor Miron should be applauded for recognizing that TCD is a way to achieve all three of these goals.”

In the Mayor’s comments he emphasized the need for Stratford to “grow up” as a community.

“Stratford is over 95% developed, so we need to look at new ways to grow.  One way to do this is through increasing density around our downtown and transit stops,” Mayor Miron said.  “This grant provides an incredible opportunity for our community to identify the best way to maximize this development potential.”

Yolanda Caldera-Durant, program officer for the Fairfield County Community Foundation and One Region Funders’ Group representative, spoke about the potential of TCD to promote mass transit and spur economic development.  She also highlighted the possibility that Stratford’s initiative could become a model for TCD efforts in Connecticut.

“We hope surrounding communities follow Stratford’s lead in promoting sustainable economic and environmental development. These are the types of innovative projects that our state needs in order to strengthen the economy.”

Following the event, Town Planner David Killeen provided Tri-State and One Region members with a tour of Stratford Center, pointing out potential areas the Town will focus upon using the resources from the grant award.

A community visioning process to identify ways to reuse the old Department of Public Works site next to the Ossining Train Station.

Changing city ordinances to allow denser development at key [...]]]>

The town of Brookhaven will use its grant for an environmental review of its plan to develop around the Ronkonkoma LIRR station.

A community visioning process to identify ways to reuse the old Department of Public Works site next to the Ossining Train Station.

Changing city ordinances to allow denser development at key locations along Newark’s successful Springfield Ave bus rapid transit “GoBus” route.

These are two of the eight projects that will receive funding via the One Region Funders Group, The Fund for New Jersey, and the Tri-State Transportation Campaign’s community assistance grants program announced today. The grants will help towns promote residential and commercial development within a half-mile of bus or rail stations, a concept otherwise known as transit-oriented development. Grants range from $10,000 to $50,000, and the eight winners were selected from over 40 applicants.

The Westchester, Long Island, and New Jersey grants were announced today, with funds going to Mount Vernon, Ossining, and Peekskill in Westchester; Babylon and Brookhaven in Long Island; and Newark and Trenton in New Jersey. The Connecticut grant will be announced at a public event next week.

The program is supported by The Fund for New Jersey and the One Region Funders’ Group, a partnership of private funders including the Westchester Community Foundation, Surdna Foundation, Fairfield County Community Foundation, Long Island Community Foundation, New York Community Trust, Rauch Foundation, and the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation.

The descriptions of winning projects and quotes from recipient town officials, as well as the many applicants we unfortunately could not fund, show that interest in transit-oriented development is strong throughout the region. (Project descriptions and quotes below:) Peekskill will study methods to improve the streetscape between Main Street and the train station.

“Peekskill’s downtown and waterfront are in the midst of a wonderful renaissance,” said Mayor Mary F. Foster. “Linking these areas with our train station will only accelerate the revitalization of our City. The funds provided by the Tri-State Transportation Campaign and the One Region Funders’ Group will go a long way to helping Peekskill achieve this goal.”

Mount Vernon will conduct a community visioning process for redevelopment near Mount Vernon West train station.

“Being chosen as a recipient of the Transit Centered Development (TCD) Grant Program will enable Mount Vernon to capitalize on the things that make our city great, like our diversity, our location, our manageable size and our dedicated citizenry,” said Mayor Clinton I. Young, Jr.

Ossining will continue community visioning to identify ways to develop the former Department of Public Works site.

“After three and a half years of work the all volunteer citizen Comprehensive Plan Committee and the Village Board of Trustees identified the long-abandoned former DPW site as the key to linking our spectacular Hudson River front and transportation hub to our Downtown Business District, one quarter mile away and approximately 120 feet higher in elevation,” said Mayor William R. Hanauer. “This grant will allow us to continue the public process of determining the highest and best use of this property.”

Babylon will create a tool-kit of low-impact development strategies for the Wyandanch train station area.

“This grant will assist the town with its downtown revitalization efforts for Wyandanch, one of the most economically distressed communities on Long Island,” said Supervisor Steve Bellone. “Transit oriented development will serve as an economic engine for Wyandanch revitalizing and improving local businesses and industry and creating additional job opportunities in the area.”

Brookhaven will conduct an environmental review for its Ronkonkoma train station land-use plan.

“We are excited and encouraged in the support and generosity extended by the Tri-State Transportation Campaign and The One Region Funder’s Group,” said Paul Rogalle, planning director for the Town of Brookhaven. “A comprehensive approach to sustainable new development and use of smart growth principles for redevelopment will incorporate land use and design elements that foster neighborhood identity and improved quality of life. The centerpiece of the Ronkonkoma Train Station will create the foundation for sustainable transit oriented development and a quality community.”

Trenton will build community support for mixed-use and mixed-income development around its newly rebuilt train station, which provides service for Amtrak, NJTransit, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) and RiverLine stops.

“The Trenton Transit Center already is a powerful driver of our city’s economic strength – and its impact on revitalization will grow significantly as mixed-use development takes shape in the area,” Mayor Douglas H. Palmer said. “With the support that the Tri-State Transportation Campaign and the Fund for New Jersey are announcing today, the City will be able to bring together residents, business owners, transit users, public officials, and other stakeholders for informed dialogue. We will be able to fully support our new train station area advisory committee – and ensure that everyone is on the same page concerning the tremendous economic opportunities associated with Trenton’s regional transit hub.”

Newark will conduct work to densify around its new GoBus Springfield Ave bus rapid transit line.

“This grant will help to further the creation of sustainable, vibrant and mixed use commercial and transit corridors throughout our city’s neighborhoods,” said Mayor Cory A. Booker. “I applaud the Tri-State Transportation Campaign and the Fund for New Jersey for their continued support and investment in Newark’s future.”

“This award not only recognizes the importance of corridors as vital transit hubs, but also the revitalization work we’ve begun along Newark’s historic Springfield Avenue, including implementing provisions for higher density residential, commercial and retail uses designed to further support the newly installed ‘Go Bus’ rapid transit system, which in just one year has already exceeded ridership expectations,” said Toni L. Griffin, Director of Community Development.