FLORIDA TOD GUIDEBOOK

Review of Case Studies

NOTE TO READERS: This draft document represents a brief overview of TOD case studies in North America, some of which may be utilized as “best practices” to help inform the development of the Florida TOD Guidebook. Data was collected from a variety of sources, including studies of the various systems analyzed below, the Federal Transit Administration, and the individual transit agencies noted below. This summary was prepared by the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council, in conjunction with the Florida Department of Community Affairs, pursuant to an interagency agreement with the Florida Department of Transportation for the preparation of a Florida TOD Guidebook. (rev. 11/5/2010)

Boston, MA

History and Background

In the 1950's and 1960's, there was significant historical building demolition to accommodate highways and modern monolithic architecture. This led citizens to voice strong concerns on preserving the traditional neighborhood character of the city, effectively halting construction projects in the early 1970's. Facing the dilemma of how to preserve and modernize their city, government leaders decided to invest heavily in public transit by using Interstate highway funds to improve transit.

Reinvesting in Boston's urban transit system catalyzed revitalization throughout the city. Since urban cores developed prematurely and unconsciously into optimal TOD's due to early settlers' dense, walkable and parking lot free neighborhoods, redeveloped and more efficient transit system was crucial in revitalizing Boston's traditional urban environments. Moreover, despite rising U.S. automobile ownership rates, city officials minimized roadway expansion projects and parking lot construction to encourage commuters to use the new and improved transit system.

Major TOD Planning Initiatives

  • State of Massachusetts, in conjunction with the Office of Commonwealth Development, has formed a TOD task force, recruiting state professionals from Environmental, Transportation, and Energy Departments as well as a MBTA real-estate planner. The mission of the task force is to create ways to promote more TOD in the state. The task force also facilitates coordination of state TOD efforts, especially when seeking federal grant funding.
  • Boston Redevelopment Authority's TOD initiatives
  • Boston's Newest Smart Growth Corridor: a collaborative vision for the Fairmount/Indigo Line.
  • Mass Housing: $100 million for mixed-income housing, specifically geared towards affordable housing near transit, available through the program Priority Development Fund.
  • Linkage Program: designed to balance large-scale commercial development with needed residential construction through fee-based incentives.
  • Commercial Area Transit Node Housing Program: bond to assist first time homebuyers purchase of properties in close proximity to a transit node.
  • TOD Infrastructure & Housing Support Program: (TOD Bond Program) State funds to finance pedestrian improvements, bicycle facilities, housing projects, and parking facilities in mixed-use developments located in close proximity to a transit stop or station

Zoning Codes and Regulations

  • Article 80 zoning code: requires transportation mitigation plans for developments greater than 50,000 square feet.
  • Chapter 40R Smart Growth Incentive Zoning: State pays municipalities along the Fairmount/Indigo Line to adopt smart growth overlay zoning districts in downtowns, commercial centers, and around transit stations to create opportunities for new housing.

Financial Assistance, Grants, Tax Programs

  • National Trust for Historic Preservation's Main Street Program: produced $40 million in new residential and commercial construction, 120 façade improvements, and 313 new businesses-strategically utilized near transit stations
  • Tax foreclosures: Boston aggressively markets foreclosed properties to promote TOD

Public Infrastructure Investments

  • Boston's political leaders have a long history of understanding the relationship between good public transit and neighborhood revitalization, thus historically supporting public transit infrastructure. In the 1970's, leaders took unusual measures to conduct a major upgrade to the subway network and commuter rail systems by allocating money from the federal highway legislation fund towards transit investment.
  • Fairmont Line: newest major public transportation investment with four new stations along an existing commuter line, focusing on providing better service to southeastern Boston.
  • The Big Dig: Boston took on the most ambitious and expensive road project in U.S. history by tunneling the city's central transportation artery underground, creating 30 waterfront-adjacent acres of open space, parks, and opportunities for TOD.
  • South Station restoration project: Built in 1898 and almost demolished in 1974, the station underwent a major restoration, championed by the existing progressive political leadership. Today it functions as Boston's central transportation hub, serving commuter rail, subway, bus, regional passenger trains.

Public/Private Partnerships

  • The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) has some land agreements with developers usually in the form of property management, leasing land to developers below market rate, using the revenue to make transit supportive infrastructure improvements. Additionally, MBTA has allowed developers to improve pedestrian connections and streetscape enhancements on MBTA property, promoting ridership and visually marketing the developer's TOD investments.

Parking

  • 1973 EPA Parking Freeze: allowed the city to freeze parking requirements for new development, attempting to reduce air pollution. The freeze caused high parking costs, effectively reducing automobile transportation in the city.
  • After the parking freeze, new MBTA Boston stations were built without parking, prioritizing pedestrians over the automobile.

Current Implementation Efforts

  • Revitalization and expansion of the Fairmount/Indigo Line

Revenue/Value Capture

  • In four years, the program produced $40 million in new residential and commercial construction, 120 facade improvements, and 313 new businesses.

Challenges

  • Given Boston's dense, historic growth patterns in the city, developers have found it challenging to deliver modern products, or modernize existing buildings given strict historic preservation regulations, prohibiting them from offering a wide variety of development types in the heart of Boston.

Boston Bus Rapid Transit TOD

History and Background

The South End of Boston was traditionally been a low-income neighborhood, especially in the mid-twentieth century. The economy was so stagnant in this area, the Metropolitan Boston Transit Authority (MBTA) removed the elevated orange rail line in 1987 due to extremely poor ridership numbers, but the agency promised to replace it with an a high frequency alternative (eventually becoming the Silver Line Washington Street BRT project, funded through FTA).

Poor economic conditions persisted in the Washington Street Corridor, a historical downtown Boston thoroughfare, and Boston's Waterfront Seaport District with many vacant, crime-ridden, and blighted properties in the 1990s. Finally, in 1997, the Mayor's task force report stated the main priority was to renovate the Washington Street Corridor with upgraded streetscapes and introduce Silver Line, a Bus Rapid Transit system (breakthrough).

Major TOD Planning Initiatives

  • A Mayoral task force report emphasized revitalization needs on Washington Street Corridor.
  • The Washington Gateway Main Streets Program (1997): created to encourage revitalization along the Washington Street Corridor to capitalize on opportunities the Silver Bus Rapid Transit Line would provide.
  • South Boston Waterfront Public Realm Plan (1999): created to encourage revitalization along the South Boston Waterfront with extended service by the Silver Rapid Bus Transit Line.

Financial Assistance, Grants, Tax Programs

  • FTA Full Funding Grant Agreement for $330 million with MBTA for the Silver Line South Station Transitway (2004)

Public Infrastructure Investments

  • Three underground stations and their tunnels, built exclusively for the BRT Silver Line Fleet (Courthouse Station, Boston World Trade Center Station, and South Station).
  • Currently efforts are being made towards Silver Line Phase III to link the two tunnels.

Current Implementation Efforts

  • Phase III Silver Line Bus Rapid System

Revenue/Value Capture

  • The Washington Gateway Main Streets Program catalyzed $250 million dollars in real estate construction and $93 million in rehabilitation, including 1,731 new or rehabilitated housing units, 128,000 square feet of new or renovated retail space, and $7 million in improvements to commercial spaces. This surge in development activity resulted in a 247% tax base increase.
  • The Courthouse Station has attracted investments totaling $3 billion dollars.
  • The World Trade Center Station and complex consists of three office buildings: the World Trade Center Boston, World Trade Center East, and the World Trade Center West, totaling approximately 1.9 million square feet of office space, built for $385 million.

Challenges

  • Boston's Silver Line has proved Bus Rapid Transit has been a true catalyst for TOD. Although some phases of the Silver Line involved complicated and ambitious construction measures, 3.9 million square feet of development activity had occurred within a quarter mile of Silver Line transit stations as of 2006, with projections of another 5 million by 2010.

New Jersey

History and Background

New Jersey has experienced a recent surge of community redevelopment in the form of TOD. This is primarily due to an increased demand for affordable professional housing near transit lines with reasonable commute times to New York City. For example, professionals commuting from Hoboken, NJ, that have chosen not to live, but still work in Manhattan, save around $800 dollars a month in comparable housing costs. This market dynamic demand continues the further one lives from the city, prompting development of transit villages along NJ transit corridors.

Given the need for affordable housing accessible to New York City, progressive state-led policies and local political leadership created a multitude of initiatives and programs that incentivize TOD. Major reinvestments made in the mid-1990s to transit infrastructure, specifically adding additional stations and routes to shorten commute times, catalyzed TOD initiatives to address demand.

Major TOD Planning Initiatives

  • Smart Growth Scorecard to help identify projects that are the most smart-growth oriented by how many modes of transit the development is accessible by, other than the automobile.
  • The 1999 Transit Village Initiative has been fundamental by providing grants and technical assistance to municipalities planning and designing TOD. The program gives priority access to state funding for urban renewal and transportation improvements. It also provides coordinated technical assistance from ten state agencies. As of 2007, there were 17 transit villages in New Jersey.
  • The 1998 Brownfields and Contaminated Site Remediation Act provides funding for site cleanups and land remediation and gives provisional power for streamlining redevelopment review processes for restored sites. This legislation revitalized traditional rail towns blanketed with noxious industrial lands, transforming them into small-scale TOD districts that offer affordable workforce housing for NYC commuters.
  • NJ TRANSIT's "Planning for Transit-Friendly Land Use" outlines ideal urban design and site planning principles for pedestrians, bicycles, and commuter-train access.
  • Transit Village Initiative Task Force: provides benefits and incentives to towns and cities that encourage growth near transit stations.

Zoning Codes and Regulations

  • Transit village development district
  • North Brunswick Transit-Oriented Mixed Use Development Overlay

Financial Assistance, Grants, Tax Programs

  • TOD Planning Grants provided by NJDOT

Public Infrastructure Investments

  • $450 Million rail transfer station in Secaucus

Public/Private Partnerships

  • Use condemnation powers to assemble TOD-friendly land for equity agreements instead of collecting property taxes.
  • The City of Rahway advanced $1.5 million for a TOD project, waiving property-tax payments for 10 years in return for 3% of the real-estate proceeds.

Parking

  • In 2003, $13 million from New Jersey Transit's capital fund is designated for the design and construction of parking spaces (thirteen times the entire annual allocation for transit villages).

Washington, D.C.

History and Background

The Washington Metro rail system, operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) is the only U.S. transit system built specifically to organize growth and curb congestion. The visionary staff from WMATA, Arlington County, Montgomery County, Virginia, and Maryland realized the potential land development opportunities associated with uncomplicated access to an efficient mass transit system. The concerted effort by WMATA and local area governments to encourage development near metro rail stations – especially early in the evolution of the transit system - is considered a critical component of the success of the thriving TOD districts in D.C., Virginia, and Maryland today.

Major TOD Planning Initiatives

  • General land use plan (GLUP): determining where development should occur, emphasizing areas in the corridor for transit-oriented growth. Additionally, setbacks, densities, and circulation and were outlined to bolster the physical elements of the plan.
  • Individual Sector Plans: addressed land use, zoning ordinances, streetscape standards, urban design, transportation, and open space guidelines with ¼ mile of each station, ensuring unique form and efficient function of each station. This type of micro-scale planning design at the macro-scale of transit station planning led to successful completion of station "districts".

Zoning Codes and Regulations

In the 1980s, new office development surpassed rates of new residential development prompting the county to implement special zoning districts requiring developers to construct residential units before building the maximum allowable of office unit density.

Financial Assistance, Grants, Tax Programs

  • Community Benefit Units or CBUs, are housing units owned by nonprofits or individuals but governed by county agreements that guarantees the units remain “affordable” for up to 30 years.
  • $900 million FTA Full Funding Grant Agreement for Washington Dulles Airport Corridor Connections.
  • The original federal funding for construction of the Metrorail system was provided by the authority of the National Capital Transportation Act of 1969.
  • "The National Capital Transportation Amendment of 1979" (also known as the Stark-Harris Act) authorized additional funding ($1.7 billion). On November 15, 1990, by Public Law 101-551, "The National Capital Transportation Amendments of 1990" authorized funding of $1.3 billion in federal funds or 62.5 percent matching Federal funds to finance construction of the remaining 13.5 miles of the 103-mile system. Full funding grant agreements were executed to complete the final 13.5 miles". (source: FTA website)
  • $1 billion from District of Columbia's Federal Highway Interstate Substitution fund.
  • Arlington County issued more than $100 million in capital bonds for Metrorail capital outlay and funded the long-term financing of the bonds.

Public Infrastructure Investments

  • The funds available under the Stark-Harris Act permitted the completion of 89.5 miles of the Metrorail system as provided under the terms of a Full Funding Grant Agreement executed with WMATA in July 1986.

Public/Private Partnerships

Most TOD projects in the region were only possible through joint development ventures, which have proven to be exemplary resource implementation tools for the typically complex TOD projects. "WMATA defines joint development as a creative program through which property interests owned and/or controlled by WMATA are marketed to office, retail/commercial, recreational/entertainment, and residential developers with the objective of developing transit-oriented development projects." Additionally, rather than wait for TOD proposals, WMATA created a real-estate development department to seek, orchestrate, and implement joint development partnerships as well as land acquisitions and holdings. WMATA developed basic TOD guidelines, aiming to increase revenue, attract additional ridership, and expand the local tax base

Parking

  • The City of Arlington has reduced its parking standards because of the high transit ridership. Most available parking is located underground to minimize pedestrian interference.

Revenue/Value Capture

The Rosslyn-Ballston Corridor had an 81% increase of assessed land value and improvements between 1972-2002 including of 11,000 residential units, 16 million square feet of office, 1 million square feet of retail, and 1,900 hotel rooms (Leach, 1994). As of 2003, approximately 1.1 million square feet of commercial development and 1,400 housing units were under construction.

Miami, FL

History and Background

Florida has experienced more growth than any other state in the nation for the past sixty years. This rapid growth has caused congestion, resource depletion, and land consumptive sprawl, which has led to a deteriorated quality of life for Floridians. These concerns prompted state government to enact growth management legislation, beginning in the mid-1970s, that has had mixed results. In some portions of the state, particularly urban areas, many local governments have adopted policies and regulations to promote transit-oriented compact growth patterns for future development. "The state has more municipalities with explicit "smart-growth" development codes than anywhere in the country, and it's currently in the planning stages of an ambitious statewide high-speed rail system" Cervero, 2004

Despite Florida's transit-supportive goals and objectives, progress in promoting TOD in the state has been slow. Florida's state transportation plan mandates transit supportive strategies to be included in local plans, but it lacks specific standards for local governments to follow. . In fact, densely populated Miami-Dade County is the only municipality in Florida with multiple fixed-route heavy rail transit systems (including Metromover, Metrorail, and Tri-Rail), and its success in compelling TOD projects has been limited.

Major TOD Planning Initiatives

  • Miami 21 plan
  • Midtown Miami East Special District

Zoning Codes and Regulations

  • Rapid Transit Zone (RTZ): used as a tool to incentivize joint-development partnerships.
  • 2001 Comprehensive Development Master Plan (CDMP) prohibits land uses that are not conducive or complementary to dense mixed-use development around transit station nodes.
  • Miami 21: recently adopted a form-based code organize future development into predictable smart growth patterns

Financial Assistance, Grants, Tax Programs