Press Release
For Immediate Release: Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Contact: Charles Carrier
New York State Department of Transportation
518-457-6400
TAPPAN ZEE BRIDGE/I-287 CORRIDOR PROJECT ANNOUNCES
TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT TRAINING FOR LOCALITIES
Public Sessions to Highlight Localities in
Westchester and Rockland Counties
New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) Acting Commissioner Stanley Gee, New York State Thruway Authority Executive Director Michael Fleischer and Metro-North Railroad President Howard Permut today announced that the Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 Corridor Project study team will begin providing Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) training next month to interested municipalities and stakeholders affected by the project, which spans a 30-mile corridor in Westchester and Rockland counties.
The initiative, a technical assistance program, called “Transit-Oriented Development – Building Quality Communities around Transit,” is designed to provide municipalities with tools, resources and hands-on exposure to leading-edge land-use and planning techniques to meet a broad range of community goals.
“Through this training, local leaders will gain a better understanding of the role transportation can play in implementing a community vision,” Acting Commissioner Gee said. “This program, which is open to all communities in Rockland and Westchester counties, will use real-life examples from the I-287 corridor to demonstrate how to use TOD to a community’s best advantage.”
TOD refers to residential and commercial centers designed to maximize access to transit and non-motorized transportation. Concepts include design that encourages walking and cycling, streets that have good connectivity and traffic-calming features to control speeds, mixed-use development that includes housing of various types and prices, shops, schools and other public services within each neighborhood and parking management to reduce the amount of land devoted to parking. They also include transit stops and stations that are convenient, comfortable and secure, with features such as comfortable waiting areas, real-time travel schedule information, vendors selling refreshments and periodicals, washrooms and information.
The project team is making TOD training available in anticipation that the transportation improvements the study is considering will need to be thoughtfully integrated into the planning and land-use discussions of affected communities. These improvements include the replacement of the Tappan Zee Bridge and introduction of a high-speed bus service called Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) across the corridor and Commuter Rail Transit (CRT) across Rockland County, which would connect with the existing Metro-North Railroad Hudson Line to provide service to Grand Central Terminal in New York City.
“The Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 Corridor impacts municipalities throughout the lower Hudson Valley and is a vital transportation network for thousands of the region’s daily commuters,” said Thruway Authority Executive Director Michael R. Fleischer. “The Transit-Oriented Development program will provide municipalities with the tools necessary to take greater advantage of the transportation improvements in the Corridor, as well as current, practical insight as to how decisions regarding the area’s transportation network are carried out through the various conceptual, planning and implementation phases, and the relationship between regional transportation and local planning decisions.”
Metro-North President Howard Permut said, "These workshops should take the mystery out of land use planning and help people realize that by clustering residential and commercial development around transit facilities they can build walkable communities, preserve open space and promote the economic well-being of local communities."
Consultants hired to conduct the training include veteran smart growth and TOD experts from Project for Public Spaces, Reconnecting America and the Regional Plan Association (RPA). During the training sessions, they will highlight conditions in 11 corridor communities, including the City of White Plains, the Town of Greenburgh and the villages of Elmsford, Port Chester and Tarrytown in Westchester County and the towns of Orangetown and Clarkstown and the villages of Airmont, Sloatsburg, South Nyack and Suffern in Rockland County.
TOD training will consist of two intensive full-day opening workshops – one in Westchester County and the other in Rockland County -- followed by eight, more-advanced, two-day workshops, four in each county. The opening session in Westchester County will be held on Monday, November 16th from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. In Rockland County, the opening session is scheduled for Thursday, November 19th from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The schedule of subsequent workshops, which will be held in the spring of 2010, will be announced in the future.
Workshops will focus on the full range of issues associated with TOD, including quality community design, sustainability, model planning and zoning concepts and ordinances, housing options, property value preservation, parking and project financing. Additionally, the training will provide other tools and resources that municipalities may begin to utilize immediately after receiving the technical assistance.
The workshops, which are open to the public, will be designed for a wide range of participants, including municipal leaders; planning, transportation and other municipal officials; industry experts, including developers and historians; public interest group representatives, community members and others interested in land use issues in Westchester and Rockland counties.
"Everyone should take advantage of this valuable program which can help communities plan for the future by designing their communities to take full advantage of public transportation,'' said Westchester County Executive Andy Spano."This program dovetails perfectly with the outreach we are conducting through our Westchester 2025 and Livable Communities initiatives to encourage smart growth and collaborative planning with all 45 Westchester municipalities. Officials from all municipalities should plan attend."
Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef said, “The timing of these workshops complements the outreach that the Rockland County Planning Department has undertaken regarding the recent launch of Rockland County's new Comprehensive Plan. These workshops will give municipalities an opportunity to weigh in on how they would like their community transportation options to function, and the transportation links that connect them to the surrounding metropolitan area as a whole. I encourage all Town and Village officials to attend."
NYSDOT is the lead agency managing the corridor study in coordination with MTA Metro-North Railroad and the Thruway Authority and in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA).
Anyone interested in becoming involved as a participant in the training sessions may contact the Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 Project office for more information at 914-358-0600 or via e-mail at tzbsite@dot.state.ny.us.