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This month on Building Better Communities with Transit we’re chatting with Susan Henderson of PlaceMakers about the use and benefits of form-based codes. We talk about the focus of these codes (the public realm where people gather and interact with each other), how they are used to support transit, and how a code can affect the streets around them.
“Gateway Cities” in Massachusetts—midsize urban centers outside of Boston but connected by commuter rail—offer unrealized opportunities for redevelopment and employment, but existing regulations dampen the potential. But if an effort was made to promote the housing and employment opportunities in these places, the state could benefit for years to come.
Hong Kong’s transit operator MTR has long used a classic value capture model to fund greater service and system expansions using profits from land development above its rail stations. But MTR and government officials are considering a partnership that would continue to provide profits to support MTR’s operations and system expansions, while also adding in a mix of affordable housing in the world’s most expensive housing market.
This month on Building Better Communities with Transit, our host Jeff Wood talks with Stan Wall of HR&A Advisors about value capture is and the NoMa–Gallaudet U station in Washington, DC. According to Stan, that station is “the most textbook, beautiful example of the possibilities in creating value and leveraging that to extreme positive benefit for a city.”
A new report finds that demand for residential and office space within a half-mile of Atlanta’s MARTA stations is “insatiable.” The result is a great deal of new value in that land and new developments which could be captured and put back into transit or be used to fund affordable housing around transit.
After a joint development project around one of Buffalo, NY’s Metro Rail stations, officials are talking about pursuing TOD around an additional seven stations to help generate revenue and increase ridership.
Seattle is taking steps to make sure that its new light rail stations will serve people with low- and moderate-incomes—those who stand to benefit most from the new transit access—by combining traditional TOD with a focus on equity (also known as equitable TOD or eTOD).
This month on Building Better Communities with Transit we’re joined by the Executive Director of the KC Streetcar Authority, Tom Gerend. In 2016, Kansas City, MO opened the first streetcar the city has seen in almost 60 years and transformed the city’s downtown. Former skeptics of the line are now some of the KC Streetcar’s biggest proponents as businesses have boomed and more people are moving to—and spending money in—the center city. The 2.2 mile KC Streetcar, akin to a downtown circulator, is “a demonstration of the possible.”
Last week, we had an opportunity to connect with some members of the TOD Peer Network in person at the 2018 LOCUS Leadership Summit. In asking about the challenges they faced at home, one issue came up again and again: affordable housing.
Value capture, gentrification, and building affordable housing around transit were among the many topics on the agenda at the 2018 LOCUS Leadership Summit: Rebuild America’s Neighborhoods. With value capture in particular, having developers and consultants with relevant experience in the room provided some important insights into how to successfully execute such projects.