Transportation Oriented Development in the New York Metropolitan Region

1. Robert N. Lane, Director Regional Design Program Transportation Oriented Development in the New York Metropolitan Region Regional Plan Association www.rpa.org

2. Transit Oriented Development in the NY Region: • Brownfield redevelopment • Retrofitting sprawl • Intensifying centers TOD Growth Existing Trend Growth

3. What is the Share of Workers Who Reach Their New Jersey Jobs by Rail? • To Jersey City - 21% (9 lines) – PATH, light rail line highly frequent service • To Newark – 9% (6 lines) – PATH, Newark Subway, NEC, NJCL • Trenton – 1% (2 lines) – NEC • To New Brunswick - 1% (1 line) - NEC • Elizabeth -1% (2 lines) - NEC • To Atlantic City - 1% (1 line) – once an hour

7. Somerville Landfill and Station Area Planning Study

8. Overview - Design access ownership environment Wetlands 38 a (33%) Somerville Borough 58 a NJ Transit 38 a Other 19 a Total 115 a

9. Overview – Design • The “Hub” • The “Heights” • The “Green Seam”

10. Overview – Design Downtown gateway Mixed-use station area New civic space Two new neighborhoods Green gateway

11. Station Area Hotel Movie Theatre

13. Overview – Design

14. Overview – Design

15. Overview – Design Total Open Space 41 a (36%) Trails Open Space Framework

16. Overview – Design

17. Technical Lesson: The Architecture Does Matter • A deteriorating suburban corridor is saved • Multiple actors • Public subsidy • Control over land use • Transportation • Very high transit share • Good car access The Rosslyn-Ballston Corridor

18. Technical Lesson: The Architecture Does Matter • Implementation • Consistency • Public participation • Issues • Quality of urban design • Affordability

19. Technical Lesson: Parking Can Be Managed Creatively

20. Technical Lesson: Parking Can Be Managed creatively

21. Technical Lesson: Density needs to be explained Understanding density Is Density “du per acre” or perception? Use local precedents

22. Technical Lesson: Explain Housing Revenue

23. Technical Lesson: Explain Housing • Tax: $300,000 • Units: 105 • Density: 18 du/acre • Cars/unit: 1.85 • Children/unit: .05-.1 Understanding Housing Franklin Square, Metucheon

24. Technical Lesson: Create A Flexible Framework for Development Calibrate to local capabilities Netcong, NJ

25. Process Lesson: Use a Diversity of Formats Diversity of formats town hall meetings, charrettes, and other convenings Diversity of media Interactive models

26. Process Lesson: Use a Diversity of Formats

27. Process Lesson: Design an Iterative Process • Technical Studies • Land use • analysis • Market • reconnaisance • Transportation • analysis Workshop #1: Steering Committee shared understanding expectations management vision statement Workshop #2: Steering Committee plus Stakeholders expectations management concept design alternatives Workshop #3: Steering Committee plus Stakeholders schematic design consensus Workshop #4: Presentation to larger group final design final analysis • Visioning • What do you • really want? • Principles • Issues and • Opportunities Plan Guidelines Implementation Strategy Concerns

28. Process Lesson: Design an Iterative Process Netcong, NJ Iterative Process: Test schemes and “straw men”

29. Process Lesson: Enable Multiple Levels of Stakeholder Involvement

30. Technical Lessons Beyond parking and density - find the intersection of: • Transit agency priorities parking, development , ridership • Community based goals and objectives place-making, redevelopment • Technical constraints market, traffic/access, context, environment

31. Technical Lessons • The architecture DOES matter • Parking can be managed creatively • Density needs to be explained • Housing needs to be explained • Create a flexible framework for redevelopment

32. Process Lessons • Empower and engage stakeholders • Use a diversity of formats and media • Iterative process and planning • Multiple levels of stakeholder involvement