Strategies including community engagement, placemaking, mixed-income housing, complete streets, parking configuration, green infrastructure and energy efficiency are outlined in a comprehensive 68-page “toolkit” focusing on opportunities to extend transit-oriented development in Connecticut, as the state moves forward with significant rail and bus initiatives.
Working in partnership, Connecticut Fund for the Environment, Partnership for Strong Communities, Regional Plan Association and Tri-State Transportation Campaign have created a Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Toolkit that highlights key strategies necessary for developing competitive and sustainable TOD in Connecticut.
The toolkit has been shared in recent weeks with interested officials and organizations around the state, and discussed at two public forums in Bridgeport that brought together more than 80 municipal leaders from the region.
The document outlines the primary components of a TOD program that meets common community goals of strengthening town centers, supporting municipal budgets, expanding housing and commercial opportunities, and minimizing environmental impacts. Among the central components outlined:
- The process and design for getting TOD built in a community, from developing a community vision and supportive zoning, to determining how accessible a station is for non-drivers.
- The demographic trends that favor mixed-income, transit-accessible housing, the fiscal impacts of residential TOD, and mechanisms to include affordable housing within TOD development.
- Complete Streets strategies that enhance streets and sidewalks to promote walking and biking to a station and to TOD built around it. Transit access, walking an bicycling, and the mix of uses in TOD mean that TOD districts require less parking than traditional development.
- Best practices for managing parking, including parking maximums, shared parking, and transit incentives.
- Information and resources for incorporating green infrastructure and energy solutions in a community. Green infrastructure minimizes wastewater and pollutant impacts from development. Energy-efficiency, local energy generation and micro-grids help communities use less power and withstand disruptions to the regional energy supply.
