The following information was released by the Twin Cities Metropolitan Council:
Today, the Metropolitan Council approved a plan to invest roughly $26 million over the next year towards economic development and jobs along metro transitways through the Council's Livable Communities grant program.
The new Transit-Oriented Development Fund (TOD Fund) will offer grants to cities to support development along rail and bus routes. TOD projects will be high density, mixed use, adjacent to transit stations, and designed to be pedestrian friendly.
"Encouraging economic development and job growth along transit corridors is a Council priority," said Metropolitan Council Chair Susan Haigh. "Expanding the number of people who live and work on major transitways ensures we make better use of our resources, expanding opportunities for all.
"Across the country, employers are seeking to locate in areas where their employees enjoy a high quality of life that includes easy access to the workplace and the resources they need to fulfill their duties," continued Haigh. "These grants will help cities attract major employers who will bring jobs that metro residents are eager to fill."
The TOD Fund is a new category of grants within the framework of the Livable Communities program to cultivate and advance the relationship and connections between jobs, transit and housing.
The Legislature created the Livable Communities program in 1995 with three separate funding accounts designed to promote and support brownfield clean up for job creation, expand affordable housing activities, and ensure development is more compact and efficient through the integration of land uses and housing choices. The new TOD Fund will help target available resources to development activity near transit corridors and infrastructure.
Council officials say development in close proximity to transit will increase transit ridership, help people get to and from work, school and other destinations, reduce dependence on the automobile and reduce vehicle traffic and the associated parking that's required to accommodate cars and other vehicles.
"It's also a more efficient form of development," said Haigh. "It's more efficient when you can encourage people, thousands at a time, to get out of their cars and onto a bus or train. It's more efficient to integrate land uses to support walking and pedestrian access. Promoting development along transitways not only fosters community vitality and vibrancy; it is also a means for government to maximize the return on tax dollars invested in our regional infrastructure."
The Council expects to make up to $13 million available to eligible communities this year and make another $13 million available in 2012. The funds come from Livable Communities grants the Council previously awarded to communities, but which were returned to the Council when qualified development projects did not move forward as planned during the recession. Council officials say the downturn in the economy meant some communities had to postpone or abandon planned development projects that were funded with Livable Communities dollars. The TOD grants will give local communities a powerful tool with which to attract and target new economic development just as the economy is rebuilding.
TOD grants will be awarded on a competitive basis over the course of several funding rounds. Applicants must be participants in the Livable Communities program and their proposed projects must meet criteria approved by the Council.
Since 1995, the Council has awarded about $230 million in Livable Communities grants, creating or retaining tens of thousands of jobs and leveraging billions of dollars in other investment.
Examples of projects that received Livable Community funding include the Excelsior and Grand development in St. Louis Park, which involved the extreme makeover of a retail strip into housing, commercial space and a town green; the Kensington Park redevelopment in Richfield, transforming a deteriorating retail space into housing, retail and office space; and polluted site cleanup at Williams Hill in St. Paul for development of an attractive industrial park.
The Council expects to make the first funding awards from the new TOD Fund early in 2012.
The Metropolitan Council is the regional planning organization in the seven-county Twin Cities metropolitan area. The Council runs the regional bus and light rail system and Northstar commuter rail, collects and treats wastewater, coordinates regional water resources, plans regional parks and administers funds that provide housing opportunities for low- and moderate-income families. The Council board is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the Governor.
