Beginning a Conversation on Equitable Transit Oriented Development

Posted on October 19, 2010 by Jeremy Eckert

Taxpayers in the Puget Sound region have invested nearly $15 billion to build up to 100 new transit centers by 2025. The transit centers and the development that accompanies the transit centers will largely shape how this region accommodates growth and encourages economic development. Previous light rail investments in South Seattle demonstrate several challenges that accompany transit investments. The Puget Sound Regional Council reports that light rail investments in South Seattle displaced local businesses and escalated land values near transit centers, thereby limiting opportunities to develop transit oriented affordable housing.1   Similar to South Seattle, many of the planned transit centers are to be located in the region’s most dense and diverse communities. This fact raises a critical planning question, how can this region encourage transit and transit oriented development without displacing established neighborhoods?

To answer that question, the federal government recently awarded a $5 million grant to a Puget Sound regional consortium2  to encourage equitable transit oriented development. With over 1,000 grant applicants, the Puget Sound region was one of 45 award recipients selected by the U.S. Department of Housing and Development (“HUD”). In all, HUD released nearly $100 million in grant funding with the goal of connecting housing with jobs, schools, and transportation. Grant insiders report that the Puget Sound region received substantial grant funding because of the grant’s emphasis on planning for equitable transit oriented development. Specifically, the $5 million grant for the Puget Sound region will fund:

  1. Neighborhood Engagement: Engage low-income and minority residents in the transportation and transit oriented development planning process. (~$500,000)
     
  2. An Affordable Housing Action Strategy: Establish an affordable housing land bank that acquires property near transit centers for affordable housing purposes.3  The strategy will also develop new land use and regulatory tools to encourage transit oriented development. (~$1,500,000)
     
  3. Transit-Corridor Planning: Establish a forum for local governments to act cooperatively, rather than competitively, to enact regional housing, transportation, and economic development goals. (~$1,000,000)
     
  4. Development Modeling: Develop a computer-modeling tool that allows planners to visualize, communicate, and analyze the cost/benefits of different development scenarios. (~$750,000)
     
  5. Pilot Projects: Enact equitable transit oriented development pilot projects in Bel-Red, Northgate, and the Tacoma Dome transit centers. ($1,000,000)
     
  6. Grant Administration ($250,000)

Responsible Development is more than achieving LEED certification. Responsible Development also requires sensitivity to neighborhood issues and a willingness to address those issues. It remains unknown whether the grant will result in a substantive regulatory framework that encourages equitable transit oriented development. Such development will require the cooperation of local governments, neighborhoods, and developers. However, the fact that eighteen project partners cooperated to secure this grant is one indicator that we should expect some substantive outcomes from this conversation.

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1 See, Puget Sound Regional Council’s Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Proposal, 4-5, available here

2 Project partners include: A Regional Coalition for Housing (ARCH), the City of Bellevue, the Cascade Land Conservancy, the City of Everett, King County, King County Housing Authority, North Seattle Community College, Public Health – Seattle & King County, Puget Sound Regional Council, City of Redmond, City of Seattle, Seattle Housing Authority, City of Tacoma, Tacoma – Pierce County Heath Department, the University of Washington’s Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies, and the Urban Land Institute – Seattle District Council

3 The grant does not provide funding that capitalizes the land bank.

 

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Debarred Contractor List

Posted on October 15, 2010 by Colm Nelson

Part of being a responsible public owner is to ensure that the contractors bidding on your project are in good standing with the Washington Department of Labor and Industries (“L&I”). Contractors found to be in non-compliance with prevailing wage law or contractor registration law by L&I are not allowed to bid on public projects, and are referred to as “debarred.” Consequently, owners should check the debarred contractor list prior to selecting a contractor for their project. The list was recently updated and can be found at

http://www.lni.wa.gov/TradesLicensing/PrevWage/AwardingAgencies/DebarredContractors/

 

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The City of Sustainability, also known as the City of Destiny

Posted on October 6, 2010 by Jeremy Eckert

Recently, the City of Tacoma announced Sustainable Tacoma Grants, awarding up to $5,000 to any non-profit or educational institution planning a project related to sustainable development and climate change mitigation. The grant encourages applicants to “be creative!” and to connect the grant proposal to Tacoma’s Climate Action Plan. Key strategies of the action plan include transportation/fuel reduction, energy reduction, waste reduction/recycling, and smart land use/livable neighborhoods.

This grant is another concrete step that the City of Tacoma has taken to integrate sustainable principles into the City’s daily operations. Previously, the Tacoma City Council passed a comprehensive upzone for several of Tacoma’s mixed use centers. This upzone is intended to accommodate projected population growth inside the City, rather than outside the City (such as on Puyallup Valley farmland). Recognizing the City’s determination to encourage urban infill, the Washington State Department of Commerce awarded the City with a $100,000 grant to fund an upfront environmental analysis of a recently upzoned mixed use center. The upfront environmental analysis will encourage new development by removing one of the biggest barriers to infill development, that is, project-based appeals under the State Environmental Policy Act. The Responsible Developer’s Blog previously discussed the importance of “upfront SEPA.”

Of course, not all of Tacoma’s residents are excited about the idea of new (and more) neighbors. To assuage neighborhood concerns, the City is taking proactive steps to engage residents in a conversation about growth. Last month, the City sponsored a lecture titled Density, Gentrification, & Other Dirty Words. Upcoming lectures are on Sustainable Transportation and Adapting Old Buildings to New Uses. A list of upcoming lectures is available here.  The City of Tacoma’s Sustainability Calendar is available here.

Expect to see Tacoma taking a lead on urban infill in the years to come. The micro-grants, upzones, upfront environmental review, and public outreach are just the beginning.

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