Transit Oriented Development
Walkable communities provide many benefits, including increased local vitality, support for active and healthy lifestyles, and better environmental performance, such as lower greenhouse gas emissions from vehicle travel. Development projects should be designed to create lively, pedestrian-friendly streets with clear views of outside activity from new buildings to foster social interaction and increase safety. They should offer easy access to a diversity of uses and safe routes to multiple destinations. Projects should be located in areas with a variety of existing amenities—such as transit, housing, employment, and civic uses—to create complete neighborhoods and make better use of existing resources. All residents deserve a variety of options to reach their destination, and new developments should encourage physical activity, minimize impacts on local traffic, and support our public transportation systems. Land devoted to parking should be minimized to support other uses and the number of parking spaces should be determined based on proximity to transit, provision of transportation options on-site, and resident demographics.