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.
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