Los Angeles and the Case for Transit Oriented Development

TRANSPORTATION LA - In an ideal world, Metro would go out and buy all the land it needs to build lines along the routes where urban density is the greatest. But L.A. long ago ceased to be a city where there is ample undeveloped land and little opposition from residents, business owners and drivers to needed transit improvements.

A case in point is traffic-snarled Santa Monica Boulevard through West Hollywood, Beverly Hills and West LA. Looking at it today, the reconstructed trunk road, along which a Pacific Electric Railway streetcar once ran, appears to be a sorely missed opportunity to build transit and TODs along the boulevard. But the idea of asking West Hollywood to give up its tree-lined median or Beverly Hills, its parking lots serving South Santa Monica Blvd merchants, underscores the challenge Metro faces in LA’s built environment.

One initiative Metro is pursuing to improve transit’s chances is its Local Planning Grant Program. The new effort is a competitive grant program designed to promote TOD development by encouraging communities to enact TOD-friendly building codes and regulations. The grants provide the winning communities with funds to go out and look at parking codes, last mile connections (how people get from the rail station or bus stop to their home), greater density around transit and better bike and pedestrian linkages to the rail and bus system.

There are also new requirements in the Federal Transportation Administration’s (FTA) New Starts program that require transit agency applicants for federal funding to look at the impact of their projects on development and make changes that promote TOD.

To date, Metro has given out a total of $5 million in TOD grants. Recipients include Duarte for the Foothill portion of the Gold Line extension, Culver City for Expo Phase 1 and 2, Inglewood for the Crenshaw Line and L.A. for 10 stations within the Expo planning area. Metro will soon be going to the Metro Board with recommendations for another $1 million in grants. Though at this point the program is only a pilot, it may become an ongoing Metro program.  

Locally, it is not just Metro that is demonstrating increased interest in TOD. In ways not seen in decades or perhaps ever, TOD and transit are now on the minds and lips of many policy makers and ordinary citizens. A recent article entitled, “Reinventing Los Angeles: Seizing the Transit Opportunity,” by Ken Bernstein in The Planning Report lays out current TOD opportunities and explains the history of TOD in Los Angeles. (Click here for the rest of Joel Epstein’s insightful LA.StreetsBlog column … plus Parts 1&2)

(Joel Epstein is Chief Talent Officer for bliss lawyers, a new legal model combining the benefits of secondment and virtual law firms. Joel writes frequently on public transit and urban life at la.streetsblog.org and other publications and is an occasional contributor to CityWatch.) –cw

Tags: Joel Epstein, transportation, Los Angeles transportation, TOD, Transportation Oriented Development





CityWatch
Vol 10 Issue 43
Pub: May 29, 2012