New zoning proposed for three transit neighborhoods along Los Angeles’ Orange Line (above) would guide development through 2040. (Image: Los Angeles Transit Neighborhood Plans)
The Los Angeles Department of City Planning recently released a development plan for three station areas along the Orange Line bus rapid transit corridor that travels from North Hollywood to the Warner Center in a dedicated right of way. Funded through grants from LA Metro, the plan seeks to rezone industrial tracts along the corridor in support of denser development to reduce existing housing shortages and emissions from transportation.
The plans will support multiple housing options ranging from “missing middle” housing types to ten story buildings, similar to the Warner Center Specific Plan that was passed in 2013 at the western end of the line. That plan has resulted in developers proposing hundreds of housing units and thousands of square feet of office space. Both plans are the result of a region wide Sustainable Communities Strategy spurred on by state legislation (SB375) which requires reductions in greenhouse gas emissions through planning.
With the most populous regions in California under a specifically acute housing crisis at the moment, there is hope that these plans and the development they spur will unlock housing options for people in need. The Orange Line Transit Neighborhood Plan is expected to be completed in 2019 and is currently under environmental review.
For more information on housing near transit, especially mixed-income TOD, look no further than TODresources.org where you’ll find the Mixed Income Housing TOD Action Guide and its companion website MITOD.org produced with the support of the Federal Transit Administration.
Recent TOD news
Here are a few things that have been happening this week with TOD projects across the country.
- Will this effort to develop on BART land be different than past? (San Francisco Chronicle)
- Community benefit agreements coming to a city near you (Smart and Resilient Cities)
- Los Angeles releases Transit Oriented Communities housing report (LADOT)
- Inside the NYC Hudson Yards Deal (WBUR)
- Mixed-income housing project breaks ground in NJ (New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Financing Agency)