The city is behind plans to turn parking lots around the North Berkeley BART station into much-needed housing.
Berkeley, California, wants to be proactive about transit-oriented development around the Bay Area Rapid Transit station in North Berkeley, reports Jared Brey. Last year the state passed legislation requiring BART to develop height and density guidelines by 2022 for its land adjacent to stations, and this month the Berkeley city council voted to establish a memorandum of understanding with the agency about future planning.
City leaders would like to see less height along with less parking and more density. Some community members are also calling for 100 percent of the units to be affordable housing, but that would be a difficult outcome to achieve. “The site could end up being built out with hundreds of new housing units, at least a portion of which will be affordable for low-income residents,” says Brey.
The fact that the Berkeley community is supporting the planning process for the North Berkeley BART station is very positive, say BART representatives and city officials. “More developers are able to work with BART on transit-oriented projects than they were when the TOD program launched in the 1990s, [Abby] Thorne-Lyman [of BART] says. Land has gotten more valuable and the housing shortage has gotten worse. But BART’s standards for affordability and open space are high,” notes Brey.
FULL STORY: Berkeley, California, Plans for a Transit-Oriented Future
Planning Commission Calls for More Density at Berkeley BART Stations
Berkeley planning commissioners recommend taller buildings, more density as the city evaluates zoning changes near BART stations.
BART's Transit-Oriented Development Bill Sets Disturbing Precedent, Says APA
AB 2923, which would allow the Bay Area Rapid Transit District to rezone their properties near stations for transit-oriented development, passed its first committee. The California chapter of APA objects to the preemption of local land use authority.
Building in Affordability
Rebecca Cohen and Emily Salomon of the Center for Housing Policy examine existing policy tools to preserve and expand affordable housing near planned transit stations.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
New Jersey’s second-largest city bans standalone data centers
Jersey City will continue to allow co-location facilities, such as those meant for research institutions that store their own data.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
Both new services will launch in October, and are part of Phoenix's Project Effective Access Solutions for Easing Congestion.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association