The Intent of this application is to showcase the innovative partnerships currently in place to support and implement Transit Oriented Development (TOD) throughout the Atlanta region. Our panel and presentation will demonstrate that Atlanta’s leaders in TOD have banded together to overcome many barriers to accomplish our region’s TOD vision.
The Atlanta Regional Commission has been involved with TOD planning since the 1970s with the Transit Station Area Development Studies (TSADS) program. ARC in cooperation with its local governments funded these TSADs which outlined development opportunities around the planned MARTA system and provided policy and infrastructure recommendations for integration of the MARTA stations into their communities. The TSADs had four objectives:
- To plan for development around station areas in such a way that the positive aspects of the station’s location can be maximized and the detrimental effects of placing a transit station in an area are minimized.
- To formulate specific methods for implementing the station area plan
- To provide for the complementary design and function of the transit system and the development of surrounding it.
- To assure that the transit system and the complementary surrounding development stimulates and reinforces community, city and regional goals.
While these four objectives may be from the 1970s, they still hold true today in guiding ARC’s work in TOD. For several years ARC has coordinated closely with the regions local governments, transit agencies, and non-profits to facilitate a broader understanding of TOD resources and actions needed in metro Atlanta. But, despite ongoing efforts to plan and provide incentives for sustainable TOD, sufficient political support and dedicated financial resources for mixed-use, mixed-income development adjacent to public transit are inadequate. Today, throughout the region there are a number of partnerships and activities working to change this fate.
