Transportation funds linked to smart growth

Innovative regional programs in Georgia and California use DOT funds to leverage new urbanist planning and development. In the Atlanta region, $350 million is slated to be spent on transportation improvements linked to smart growth projects in the next 25 years. Although this figure represents only one percent of overall transportation dollars expected to be spent in the region through 2025, these funds are giving a boost to new urbanist planning. Supplied by the US Department of Transportation (DOT) and disbursed through the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), the funds are expected to leverage significantly more in private investment. This program, called the Livable Centers Initiative (LCI), focuses government spending on two key areas where the public sector can play a significant role in the New Urbanism — initial planning and transportation/streetscape improvements. LCI was modeled after a similar program launched by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) in the San Francisco Bay area, called Transportation for Livable Communities (TLC). MTC earmarked $180 million for TLC over 20 years, and has proposed increasing this program to $675 million over 25 years. The Atlanta and Bay area programs are the only ones of their size and scale in the US, to the knowledge of program directors at MTC and ARC. A much smaller program with similar goals has been initiated in Chittenden County, Vermont. Both LCI and TLC use general DOT funds, and the program could be duplicated by any regional planning organization with federal transportation funds to disburse. Both programs specifically promote transit-oriented development, and mixed- use, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods. LCI has begun by awarding $1 million in planning grants annually for five years. Twenty-two grants, ranging from $20,000 to $120,000 (with a 20 percent local match), have been given to municipalities to date. After communities complete a plan, they can apply for implementation funds through ARC, which is in charge of disbursing DOT funds. A typical grant paid for an $87,000 study of the 160-acre River Mill District in Canton, Georgia, a historic city of 8,000 people 25 miles from Atlanta. The plan calls for the redevelopment of an old warehouse/mill district into a mixed-use neighborhood with transit connections. Streetscape improvements, changes in codes, adaptive reuse of historic buildings, and economic development initiatives are all part of the plan. The City of Chamblee is planning a mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented district around an existing transit station. The area is currently single-use industrial and parking lots, but the new zoning will encourage a core-area urban neighborhood, on the scale of parts of Manhattan or Toronto, according to Community Development Director Paige Perkins. The project has already sparked significant developer interest. A vote on zoning approval is scheduled for July, she adds. Many of the cities getting grants are located on rail corridors where future passenger train service is proposed. “LCI has driven a lot of planning that would not have occurred otherwise, and it has awakened a lot of cities to the principles of smart growth,” says Rod Gary, a planner with the Brookwood Group, which created an LCI plan for Peachtree City, Georgia. TLC has been in place a year longer than LCI, and $27 million has been disbursed in 70 grants, half of which have been for planning and the other half for capital projects. Planning grants have included a transit village plan for the Santa Clara Caltrain station, and a Station Area plan for the 16th Street BART station in San Francisco. Capital projects have included a new pedestrian plaza for the Richmond Transit Village, an 18-acre TOD designed by Calthorpe Associates.