What Is TOD?
Transit Oriented Development (TOD) is a development approach that encourages intensifying and inter-mixing land uses (residential, office, retail, and entertainment) around transit stations, integrating public amenities (open spaces and landscaping), and improving the quality of walking and bicycling as alternatives to automobile travel. Successful TOD projects also address ways to ensure personal security and safety, encourage economic and community development, respect the area’s cultural history, and strengthen the connections between transit and surrounding neighborhoods.
While the TOD approach is similar around all station areas around the nation, the development itself or the specific project around each station area is unique.
Each station within the transit network serves a different transportation purpose and the neighborhoods it serves all have different values and opportunities. Community visioning is vital to ensuring that a TOD projects meets the desires of residents, businesses, transit riders and local governments.
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Baltimore City TOD
There are many opportunities for Transit Oriented Development in Baltimore City. In the City, TOD will be used to focus on the connection between development and transit as the key to helping neighborhoods achieve their goals and to promote transit use, bicycling, and walking as alternatives to automobile travel. Currently, our Comprehensive Master Plan, in Appendix D, outlines a TOD Strategy for implementing projects around transit stations that meet TOD objectives. Additionally, the Development Guidebook contains a checklist for Transit Oriented Development which is intended to guide Baltimore City agencies in reviewing proposed projects near transit stations, and in assessing the transit-friendliness of land-use plans, codes, and ordinances.
Resources
- New Jersey Transit Village
- American Public Transportation Association
- Central Maryland Transit Alliance
- MD Department of Planning "Smart Growth Background"
- Victoria Transport Policy Institute on using Public Transit
- Railvolution
TOD Locations
State Center
Transit-oriented development around the State Center office complex is a great opportunity for Baltimore. The area has Metro, Light Rail, Bus, and Regional Rail Service, all of which could serve as a real asset for surrounding communities. State Center is now a divider, rather than a bridge between Bolton Hill, Upton, and Mt. Vernon. A strategy process, which includes a development team, is already in place to craft a collaborative plan for the redevelopment of State Center, known as CityScaping. For more detailed information, visit the State Center website.
West Baltimore MARC Station
West Baltimore, once a very established and flourishing neighborhood, has been negatively impacted in the late 60s by Federal and Local highway plans and policies. Today, there is a revitalization movement in the community that focuses on opportunities brought about by the MARC station, as well as the proposed Red Line rail project and other transit, land-use and economic development. After a series of meetings and workshops in October 2005, residents, businesses, churches, schools, nonprofit organizations, and state and local government came together to form West Baltimore Coalition (WBC) to develop a common vision for redevelopment around the MARC station.
Reistertown Plaza And Rogers Avenue
These two sites are ideal candidates to serve as TOD centers, offering the potential for high-density development with a mix of land uses, including mixed-income residential, office, and retail. The Urban Renewal Plans (URP) provide detailed information on the Reisterstown Plaza Transit Station and Rogers Avenue Transit Station.
Morgan State University: Projected Green Line Station Area
The Planning Department and Morgan State University are in the very preliminary stages of discussing transit-oriented development in response to the rail plan’s suggestion that the Metro line be extended in this direction. The viability of this project is supported by the strong ridership estimates for transit in the northeast corridor. The Morgan State University stop holds out the particular advantage of promoting better linkages among Baltimore’s institutions of research and higher learning, which is crucial for the City’s economic development. (MTA green line).
Westport Mount Winans Lakeland Master Plan
The master plan for the Westport, Mount Winans, and Lakeland neighborhoods focuses revitalization strategies on existing neighborhood assets, including the Westport light rail station. Implementation of this plan will help solidify a diverse, mixed-income community of residences and businesses. Take a look at Westport-Mount Winans-Lakeland Master Plan.