Moving From TOD Planning to Implementation:

The Twin Cities Story

Gretchen Nicholls Housing + Transit Conference Austin TX

October 2010

• BOSTON: mature system, hot housing market, state leadership

• CHARLOTTE: new line under construction, rapidly growing region and active housing market, city and transit agency leaders

• DENVER: expanding new system, hot housing market, city/county partnering with MPO and transit agency

• PORTLAND: expanding multi-modal system, hot housing market, regional approach

• TWIN CITIES: new system with plans to expand, warm housing market, ridership and development responding to TOD, multiple public actors

Overview of Five Case Study Regions

• Development has far exceeded expectations

• Tremendous potential for neighborhood transformation – redeveloping industrial lands but also negatively impacting affordability

• No real strategy for looking at how to keep this area affordable.

• How could affordable housing help trigger the market?

• Challenges of disposing/transitioning land acquired in building the line

• Need to determine how to keep the market going, but also make good places.

• Part of joint development is setting up the context for the private sector to maximize its investment and for the highest and best transit use (not just the highest dollar amount).

• Localities cannot do it alone, need larger regional and state support

What does the Hiawatha Story Tell Us So Far?

Corridors of OpportunityProgrammatic & Geographic Areas of Focus

Affordable housing preservation & advancing opportunities for equitable TOD Hiawatha, Central, Southwest: building off inventories

Small business support to grow customer base before, during, and after LRT construction New loan products to create affordable space for new entrepreneurs Central, downtown St. Paul, next-in-queue

Using SWLRT to institutionalize new approaches: Long-term investment frameworks New coordination structures w/transit project office and Community

Works Process

Enhance region’s decision-making structure around transportation investment & land use decisions.

5

Regional Initiatives

Community Development

Both/And (not Either/Or) Community development works Community development is about R & D for systems change

Green / sustainable development Cross-disciplinary partnerships Multiple purpose (mixed uses)

CONNECTION

BUILDING CONSENSUS

Sponsored by:

Getting it Done:

A workshop series on Transit-Oriented Districts and Walkable Communities

March – June 2010

Regional Initiatives

Workshop Topics:

Workshop I: Infrastructure and the Public Realm

Gary Toth, Project for Public Spaces

Workshop II: Connecting Land Use and Transportation

Joe Shilling, VirginiaTech Metropolitan Center

Workshop III: Equitable Development and Community Benefits

Leslie Moody, Partnership With Working Families

Workshop IV: Financing – Building Public / Private Partnerships

Dena Belzer, Strategic Economics

Who participated?

• 16 cities• 5 counties• Met Council, state and federal agencies.• 19 developers• 58 advocacy groups and community-based

organizations• 35% attended 3 – 4 sessions.• Cross-disciplinary and cross-sector involvement.

Summaries and Next Steps • Findings and policy recommendations from the series

will be shared with city councils, planning commissions, legislative committees, and other key partners.

• A web site that contains all of the presentations, links, and information gathered at the Getting it Done TOD series is available at www.reconnectingamerica.org/static/twincitiestodtoolkit/workshop

• A shared definition of transit-oriented development.

• A collection of local TOD case studies that provide information on what it took to get there (including capstone projects to further our on-the-ground learning).

Top Ten TOD Policy Strategies

1. Zoning revisions - minimum FAR, maximum parking 2. Invest in a system of transit improvements 3. Prioritize investment areas by identifying regional

growth centers and conducting regional market analysis 4. Pass TIF for TOD 5. Make Livable Communities Act more explicitly a TOD

program.6. Use planning, urban design policy to influence design,

engineering of LRT, BRT 7. Land banking resources (patient capital) and strategies 8. Land trust options for residential and commercial sites.9. Improve watershed planning and coordination with cities. 10. Advocate against decentralized employment locations.

July – November 2011

The Big Picture Project:Aligning housing plans along the Central Corridor

Central Corridor / Subareas

Adding it up to achieve goals

What will it take?

Framing DocumentsSpreadsheet of existing plans, policies and recommendations

MAPS

Affordable Housing near Transit / National Case Studies and Strategies

Project Team

Government Development

Finance Community

The Process

Final Product:

Central Corridor Affordable Housing

Coordinated PlanOutcome:

To provide a coordinated set of strategies for the Central Corridor that government, community, finance, and development partners can work toward to achieve affordable housing options, and identify policies that will enable those strategies to succeed.

Providing a framework for higher density housing and mixed-use development

along transportation corridors

Corridor Development Initiative

Community Development

Proactive Planning

Production

Partnerships

CDI Block Exercise

An interactive exercise for community members to explore different development options and find out if the are financially viable.

CDI Block Exercise: What it is

CDI Block Exercise: Community Impact

Participants leave with a deeper understanding about the economic constraints of development and design opportunities in their neighborhood

Block Exercise: Community Impact

Block Exercise: Products Summary Sheet of all Scenarios Created

Final Recommendations Submit to city officials

Brooklyn Park / Huntington Pointe Site:Development Guidelines

Sponsored by the Brooklyn Park Economic Development Authority,Hennepin County Housing, Community Works, and Transit and the

Corridor Development Initiative/Twin Cities LISC

•Change is natural evolution of past and future•Ground discussion in shared values•Experts on tap, not experts on top•Translate technical terminology

Lessons Learned

• Connect vision with financial realities• Use local images • Neutral facilitator essential

“The Corridor Development Initiative provides a great education to community members, makes visions more concrete, increases comfort with

housing options and provides a venue for community members to work together to identify their goals.”

Amy Sparks, St. Anthony Park Community

“The Corridor Development Initiative gets residents

meaningfully engaged in shaping the future of their neighborhoods. Any community looking for a new

way to resolve controversial neighborhood redevelopment and infill issues should consider using

this as a model,”

APA Awards Jury Chair Carol Rhea.

For more information go to:

www.corridordevelopment.org

gnicholls@lisc.org