The land around the majority of
light rail stations has been zoned for retail, in accordance with the theory of
Transit Oriented Development. The unintended consequence has been that
development near transit stations has been auto-oriented, with single story
retail and large parking lots.
Attempting to implement TOD
outside of the context of a controlled and designed mega-project is extremely
problematic. TOD is a designer’s solution antidote to sprawl, and it requires
the implementation of all project elements simultaneously, to form a coherent
whole, to be successful.
For the majority of transit
stations, using TOD as a planning and development paradigm is inappropriate. A
city is not a building writ large, or a district a single development writ
large. Outside of the context of an integrated district-scale redevelopment
plan, with a single master developer (private or public), development around
transit is not TOD, and should not be treated as such.
To meet the necessary threshold
for walkable neighborhood retail, residential density near transit stations
needs to rise substantially. In most areas, where existing residential
development consists of single family detached housing, raising the average
density requires the addition of very high density residential development.
Thus, planners should both permit and incentivize the development of very high
density (elevator apartments, minimally). In theory, the necessary population
to meet the threshold to support neighborhood retail is services should be
provided by adjacent high density residential. Lacking that, a TOD cannot
support pedestrian scale retail.
The financial underpinnings for
residential density are provided by rapid transit with good access to regional
employment. Without the accessibility premium, there is no demand to support
the residential density. That accessibility premium exists: a) in the context of
severe traffic congestion (where transit provides a significant time advantage
over the personal automobile) or b) high parking costs near workplaces, so that
transit represents a significant financial advantage.