Density By Design: Transit, Location Efficiency and TOD Hank Dittmar

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Density By Design Transit, Location Efficiency
and TOD Hank Dittmar
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Integrating transit and community a global trend
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The United States

• Transit building boom.
• New rail systems have opened throughout the USA.
• New rail starts, extensions busways are in
  process in 37 of 40 top metros

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San Francisco Bay Area

• Over the past thirty years, the region has
  developed an extensive network, including subway,
  commuter rail, light rail, cable car
• and rapid bus.
• The Bay Area has been a leader in coordinating
  transport and housing policy, offering incentives
  to locate affordable housing near transit.

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Dallas - Fort Worth Metroplex, Texas

• Passenger transport is very popular in the
  region, with 77 approval in a recent vote.
• The region has commuter rail, light rail,
  historic trolley and bus transit, and the rail
  has sparked a boom in transit oriented
  development, especially in the suburbs.

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Portland, Oregon

• Portland has developed an elaborate strategy
  for managing growth in the region, with
  boundaries and other planning tools.
• The light rail system, and now the downtown
  streetcar are central to a strategy of
  encouraging walkable mixed-use development near
  public transport.
• The most recent light rail extension to the
  airport opened last year.

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San Diego, California

• The Tijuana Trolley began the U.S. trend to
  light rail almost twenty years, ago and the
  region has followed it with a number of
  extensions.
• The regions growth plan calls for the
  development of multiple centers, served by bus,
  and connected by light rail and rapid bus.

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Competing with the auto

• To succeed, passenger transport must emulate the
  qualities associated with the auto frequency,
  reliability, speed, convenience, ease of use.

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Frequency

• Next to accessibility,most important factor is
  frequency of service. Goal is service
  frequencies that dont require reliance on
  schedules.

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Reliability

• This may be the Achilles heel of the car, as
  incident related congestion reduces
  predictability of the commute.
• Means that transit must separate itself from the
  auto environment where possible.

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Speed

• Finding and promoting corridors where public
  transport can better the auto in travel time
  while providing a less stressful environment is
  effective.
• Transit prioritization, separated guideways,
  reduced transfers all are strategies here.

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Convenience Ease of Use

• Stations vehicles should be accessible to the
  pedestrian, low-floor vehicles help everybody.
• Accessible fare instruments U pass, annual pass,
  employer provided passes.
• Rider serving amenities near station reduce need
  to drive child care, groceries, cleaners.
• Fixed guideways reduce uncertainty.

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Individualized Marketing

• Western Australia is a leader with TravelSmart
  Australian Greenhouse Office funded throughout
  Australia.
• Getting to households at key points to offer
  individualized information about travel choices.
  1/2 of U.S. households move every 5 years!

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A note about modes

• Much time is wasted in the debate about bus or
  rail both are needed, and it depends on setting.
• If goal is development impact, developers want
  competitive travel time, identifiable station,
  high quality design.

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Network coverage is key
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Supporting Lifestyle Choices the Demographic
Drivers of Change

• Married Couples with kids are no longer dominant
• Empty-Nesters
• Single-Person Households
• The Rise of the Creative Class
• Changing Consumer Preferences in favor of
  Close-In Living

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Passenger transport can provide armature for more
sustainable growth

• In the U.S., the market exists for 14 million new
  households within 1/2 mile of a station by 2025,
  without considering changing consumer
  preferences.
• Allowing this market demand to be met can improve
  housing affordability, reduce auto travel, and
  obviate need for greenfield development.

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Building communities around the station TOD
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An Outcome-Based Definition for Transit Oriented
Development

• Walkable, Mixed-Use Development Near Stations
  That Has
• Location Efficiency.
• Expanded Mobility, Shopping and Housing Choices.
• Financial Return and Value Recapture.
• Balance Between Place and Node
• Great Place Making That Celebrates Walking

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Location EfficiencyThe Land Use-Transport
Connection

• Hypothesis Increased Density and Transit
  Availability are Positively Correlated with
  Reduced Auto Use

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Location Efficiency

• Three factors are highly correlated with reducing
  auto use
• Density -- sufficient customers within walking or
  bicycling distance (households per residential
  acre)
• Public transit accessibility -- Both physical
  location and service frequencies
• Pedestrian friendliness -- Interconnected street
  network
• Builds on work by Newman Kenworthy study by
  Holtzclaw, Clear, Dittmar. Goldstein, Haas, in
  Transport Planning and Technology, 2002,
  available at http//www.reconnectingamerica.org

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Driving vs. Residential Density
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Rich Mix of Choices

• Appropriate Land Use Mix for the Area
• Mix of Housing Types and Price Ranges
• Supporting Amenities Reduce the Need to Take
  Ones Car
• Urban design that celebrates the pedestrian

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Financial Return and Value Recapture

• TOD can provide a financial return as well as
  individual and collective savings that can be
  captured and invested in housing or amenities
  rather than transportation, parking, and
  auto-oriented infrastructure.

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How Households Use Each Dollar
STPP CNT, Driven to Spend, 2001.
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Value Capture Transit and Housing Affordability
CNT, 2001
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Value Capture by Public Agencies Local government

• Tax Increment Financing at Pleasant Hill BART and
  Arlington Heights, Illinois
• Direct investment parking, tax abatement in
  Albuquerque in exchange for share of equity in
  later years

Downtown Albuquerque, Moule Polyzoides
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Value Capture by Transit Agencies

• Joint development WMATA ground leases MARTA in
  Atlanta, Lindbergh Station expected to return 22
  on investment
• Assessment district for TOD improvements at
  Pleasant Hill
• Public Private partnership to develop Memphis
  Central Station, combine tax credits, FTA funds
• Potential public benefit corporation at King
  Street Station, Seattle
• Direct contributions from developers at
  Docklands, for Portland airport light rail line

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Location Efficient Mortgage and Smart Commute
Mortgage

• These mortgage products allow borrowers in
  denser, Passenger transport rich communities to
  count extra income from transportation savings
  when qualifying for a home mortgage
• Location efficient mortgages are being offered in
  Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle
• Fannie Maes Smart Commute mortgage is offered in
  Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City and
  Pittsburgh

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Place and Node

• TOD must reconnect and integrate passenger
  transport and development in a fundamental way.
• TOD must balance place and node by resolving the
  tension between the stations role in the network
  and its role in making vital, lively centers.

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Making Great Places
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A Taxonomy for TOD

• At Different Scales of Communities
• Appropriate Densities
• Mix of Land Uses Amenities
• Required Levels of Transit Service
• Another Tension Between Standards and Uniqueness
  of Place

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A Taxonomy for TOD Density and Service Levels
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Urban Downtown
LoDo, Denver, CO
Grand Central Station, NYC
The Embarcadero, San Francisco
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Urban Neighborhood
Mockingbird Station, Dallas, TX
Barrio Logan, San Diego, CA
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Suburban Town Center
Addison Circle, TX
Market Commons, Arlington, VA
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Arlington County Results

• Used Metrorail as catalyst for redevelopment
  concentrated density and promoted mixed-use at
  five stations.
• 33 of Countys real estate tax revenue from the
  8 of its land near transit, resulting in the
  lowest property tax of any major jurisdiction in
  Northern Virginia
• 50 percent growth in transit ridership 73.3 of
  patrons travel to and from Metro stations on
  foot, elimination of dedicated station parking
  low auto trip generation.

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Suburban Neighborhood
Santa Clara County, CA
Subiaco Station, WA
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Commuter Town Center
Suisun City, CA
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Neighborhood Transit Zone
International Blvd., Oakland, CA
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Planning and Zoning for TOD

• Case Study Analysis by Ellen Greenberg, CNU
• Looked at eleven cases, in California, Texas,
  Colorado,Washington, Georgia, Virginia, Illinois
  and Oregon
• Successful, not perfect projects, bus and rail,
  variety of planning approaches

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Four Key Factors for Coding

• Active, Walkable Streets
• Building Density and Intensity
• Careful Integration of Transit
• When the Zoning doesnt fit

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Active, Walkable Streets

• Land use mix, especially ground floor retail or
  flex space
• Sidewalks and sidewalk treatments
• Building orientation placement build to
  lines
• Primary entrances on public streets
• Fenestration ground floor windows
• Small block size 250-400 feet range
• Parking Placement and Supply no parking between
  building and street
• Street Standards

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Building Density and Integration

• Techniques Used
• Specify Minimum Rather than Maximum Densities
• Establish Average Densities
• Density Bonuses as Incentives, especially for
  housing inclusion

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Careful Integration of Transit

• Seldom addressed, but critical to success
• Most often addressed in customized projects
• Can be a specific type of district,as in Denver

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The Opportunity

• To connect transportation and communities,
  ensuring tools are in place to create stable
  mixed income, mixed use communities that capture
  the advantages of location efficiency for
  families, communities and regions.
• Reconnecting America
• www.reconnectingamerica.org
• Congress for the New Urbanism
• www.cnu.org