This month on Building Better Communities with Transit we’re joined by Eric Singer and Andrej Micovic, Associates at Bilzin Sumberg in Miami who talk about the creation of a unique ordinance in Miami-dade County that consolidates land use decision making. They also talk about how recent TIF districts and the county’s Strategic Miami Area Rapid Transit (SMART) Plan interact with that ordinance and what’s important in writing planning code.
A new land use plan in Fairfax County, VA sets the stage for a new bus rapid transit corridor and accompanying TOD, supports enhancements to walking and biking, and preserves (or restores) open space.
This report examines ways that transportation decisions affect land use patterns, and the resulting economic, social and environmental impacts. These include direct impacts on land used for transportation facilities, and indirect impacts caused by changes to land use development patterns. In particular, certain transportation planning decisions tend to increase sprawl (dispersed, urban-fringe, automobile-dependent development), while … Continued
This Recommended Practice promotes the importance of design in the success of a transit project, including transit facilities and transit systems. Key principles of design are summarized, and specific tools to achieve design excellence are described, including design guidelines. Design and the design process are promoted for establishing an agency vision and sense of purpose, … Continued
Metropolitan Planning Organizations play a very important role in the planning and implementation of TOD. As regional planning bodies, MPOs are in a unique position to support stakeholders within their jurisdiction to take actions or adopt policies that support transit-oriented development and provide funding for planning and transit supportive infrastructure. In long-standing federal law for … Continued
This study examined factors that are associated with cost-effective transit investments. By “cost-effective” we mean projects with low capital cost per rider on an annual basis. To address this question, we obtained data for 59 transit investments—33 light-rail (LRT), 23 heavy rail (HR), and four bus rapid transit (BRT) systems— across 19 metropolitan areas in … Continued
This guidebook was developed to help transit agencies better address the connections among transit, land use planning, and development decision making. The guidebook promotes improved transit and land use decision making by providing transit agencies with the tools to be more effective at the decision-making table. The tools, which build on successful transit and land … Continued
In 2015, the City of Chicago increased incentives for quality development near transit stations through the TOD ordinance. MPC supports these incentives as one important step toward increasing transit ridership in our region: When more people live and work near transit, more people use transit. Learn more below about the city’s new incentives and view a map that … Continued
The purpose of the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) zoning districts is to create a compact, and high intensity mix of residential, office, retail, institutional, and civic uses to promote the creation and retention of uses in areas with high potential for enhanced transit and pedestrian activity. Pedestrian circulation and transit access are especially important and … Continued
A Guidebook for Practitioners offers guidance to communities on patterns of development that encourage alternatives to the automobile for work and nonwork travel. It summarizes the key relationships between transit and urban form, outlines the role of transit in regional and corridor planning, and discusses the principles and tools for station-area planning and development.