Transit-Friendly Development December 2008

Welcome to Volume 4, Issue 3 of Transit-Friendly Development, a newsletter designed to keep municipal officials, planners and advocates up-to-date on the potential for development and redevelopment around transit stations. This joint effort between NJ TRANSIT and the Bloustein School’s Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center (VTC) at Rutgers University aims to enrich the transit-oriented development (TOD) conversation in New Jersey’s diverse communities by highlighting what is happening in the state and around the country: best practices, model programs, legislation and local problem-solving experiences.

In this issue, we discuss how transit-oriented development fits into the large sustainability equation. We also add to our highlight of communities that may benefit from the recently enacted Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit legislation and how demographic forces should sustain the marketability of residential TOD.

We hope local leaders and the public find these articles of value as all of us strive to create livable, sustainable and thriving communities. We always appreciate reader comments, so send us your comments, criticisms and ideas for future articles. We can be reached via email at: vtc@policy.rutgers.edu.

Thanks for reading and we hope you enjoy!

Click here for a PDF file of the entire newsletter (562 KB). Get Adobe Acrobat here.

December 2008
Volume 4, Number 3

What's New

Transit Village Update

Mixed-Use Projects Continue in Rahway

Morristown Projects Move Forward

National TOD News

California Enacts Smart Growth Bill

Regional TOD News

New Program: Classic Towns of Greater Philadelphia

Big Changes Planned for the Yonkers Waterfront

NJ TOD News

New station and construction to begin at Wood-Ridge

First Project at Secaucus Transit Village Complete

Editorial Board

Vivian E. Baker, NJ TRANSIT
Jef Buehler, Main Street NJ/NJ
Office of Smart Growth
William G. Dressel, NJ State League
of Municipalities
Monica Etz, NJDOT
Tim Evans, NJ Future
Jack Kanarek, NJ TRANSIT
Chuck Latini, Heyer, Gruel &
Associates/NJAPA
Martin Robins, VTC

Transit-Friendly Development is published three times a year through funding by NJ TRANSIT. This newsletter is produced by the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center (VTC), part of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

Please direct all comments to: vtc@policy.rutgers.edu

Editorial Staff:
Stephanie E. DiPetrillo
Lewis Thorwaldson
Matthew Keating

Photo/Map Credit:
VTC (unless noted)

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The Case for Sustainability
Through Transit-Oriented Development

In these uncertain times, it is important to remember that transit-oriented development can be a significant way to achieve our long-term sustainability goals of energy efficiency, infrastructure efficiency and economic vitality. We explore the public policy and personal benefits of development near transit.

Transit-Oriented Housing —
Shelter in a Storm?

We are pleased to offer this guest article by Jeffrey Otteau, president of the Otteau Valuation Group, Inc. in which he provides evidence of the relative strength—in the near and longer term—of the housing market in transit-rich locations.

What's Happening in NJ's Urban Hubs

In January, nine cities were named as locations for the Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit. In this issue we take a look at these communities:

See our July 2008 issue for our profiles on Newark, New Brunswick, Paterson and Trenton. We plan to complete our examination of these communities by looking at Hoboken and Elizabeth in the next issue of the newsletter.