Transit Oriented Development: making TOD real.

Several times a year, Randall Fleischer, Director of Business Development & Facilities for MTA Metro-North Railroad, receives unsolicited proposals from brokers and/or developers for redeveloping the station areas and the acres of parking that surround 119 stations distributed in seven counties in southeastern New York State and two counties in southwestern Connecticut.

As a consequence, Metro-North, the second largest commuter rail system in the United States, has begun championing a series of programs to leverage its assets and increase its ridership and revenues.

Realizing that Transit Oriented Development (TOD) can represent a "win-win" for both communities and the rail system, Metro-North has engaged Urbitran and Fox & Fowle to develop a planning process that addresses the needs for the long-term goals of the railroad with those of the communities that it serves.

TOD is not a new concept in New York City's metropolitan area. The individual railroads that now make up the MTA (Metro North and the Long Island Rail Road) spurred the initial development of most of the suburban communities that surround the City.

Historic photographs reveal rail stations that were surrounded by stores, hotels, offices, and multi-family housing that was linked to adjacent downtowns. As populations expanded, the railroad and local communities acquired surrounding properties to accommodate commuter parking needs and a "no-man's land" evolved that created a clear separation between communities and the transit stations. It is the objective of TOD to fill the gaps and to make these communities whole again.

Although public agencies, planners and transit agencies in the region have come to appreciate the advantages of promoting smart-growth policies that mix residential housing, commercial and civic uses to spur employment all within a "walkable" community with easy access to transit routes, TOD is also often a hard sell on both sides of the political spectrum.

There is often strong anti-growth sentiment where any development is seen as contributing to increased traffic and overstressed schools. Additionally, municipal planners, zoning officials and g overning bodies find TOD ordinances to be confusing, and are wary of introducing untested language into their zoning ordinances.

A great deal of education is necessary to successfully introduce transit-friendly land use principles into local policy, and if community acceptance is going to be gained, public officials must be willing to stand behind "smart-growth" concepts.

As such, it is very important to meet with local officials prior to developing any concepts, in order to understand key community concerns and objectives.

As a second step, the planning team should schedule a follow up meeting with public officials to describe what was heard in earlier sessions and make reference to local issues as emerging concepts are defined. Fox & Fowle describes this as: "Responding to the Three L's: Listening, Learning, and Linking". However, the process cannot succeed without a fourth "L": Leadership.

Leadership must come from the design team in partnership with the railroad authorities and local officials.

Transit Oriented Development projects provide the seeds for continued growth and prosperity in the New York Region.

It is clear that a great deal of outreach, education and leadership is necessary to successfully introduce smart-growth principles into local land use regulations.

As planners, we have a responsibility to inform and encourage public officials to apply smart growth concepts by redeveloping under serviced or declining downtowns and preserving open lands.

Planners must understand and clearly communicate a community's needs in order to address their concerns of transit-friendly development and dispel the associated myths and misperceptions.

In order to ensure success, a positive response is not only derived from good planning and communications, there must be a willingness from public officials, regardless of their party affiliation, to take a stand that is not necessarily going to be popular in suburban communities that may be afraid of change.