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.