One planning guide that local regional planners are looking at has some interesting things for both planners and citizens to consider. The TOD 202 Guide to Station Area Planning is a publication by the federally funded nonprofit group Reconnecting America. Borne of the Great American Station Foundation and formed in 2002, their website states that ReconnectingAmerica.
"not only develops research and innovative public policy, but we also build on-the-ground partnerships and convene the necessary players necessary to accelerate decision-making." The map from their website indicates how expansive the nonprofit's efforts are. The Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of ReconnectingAmerica is Andriana Abariotes, whom is also the Executive Director of the Twin Cities Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC). LISC was chosen to manage the State of Connecticut's $15 million predevelopment and acquisition fund by Governor Dannel Malloy in 2014 as stated in this CHFA press release. The purpose of the fund is described as
"to provide financing that will encourage developers to carry out transit oriented development in communities with transit stops along the CTFastrak"
Bristol is at the farthest west end of one of the New CTFastrak bus lines as indicated by their service map. The expansion of a guideway is unlikely at current ridership levels. One need merely drive by city hall in downtown Bristol to find the mostly empty buses idling and waiting to shore up transit arrival times. Perhaps the efforts to increase density around it's Depot Square destination are to fill this purpose. Some very involved stakeholders have incredulously claimed that the busway and the project are completely unrelated. Nothing could be further from the truth.
As indicated at the Bristol Downtown Development Corporation's July meeting, the developer of the Depot Square project whom sought state funding for their high-density affordable housing development through the Department of Housing and Urban Development has applied for state predevelopment funds under the recommendation of the agency. With the State of Connecticut's Office of Policy and Management having given Bristol the designation of a Regional Center with Priority Funding, it has given the aforementioned document significance. This is not so much the association of the nonprofits involved but the simple fact that Bristol's Regional Council of Governments Planners are using these guides as a resource. To quote a recent reference from the President of the Central Connecticut Chamber of Commerce, "The devil may be in the details." Let's see if we can learn what to expect to come and what is already in the works by taking a look inside the guide.
Local reports from the media have described the downtown New Urbanism redevelopment as the transformation of Bristol into an "urban center". The focus seems to be almost the same in either case. A dedication to the creation of dense housing near public transportation is a key role in the expansion of transportation ridership. A Federal Transit Administration funded report called Transit-Oriented Development in the United States: Experiences, Challenges, and Prospects illustrates (among many other things) that the increase of ridership is the number one goal of transit agencies involved in transit-oriented development projects. This is precisely why developers and city leaders are encouraged to increase density in TOD projects..
According to Bristol's chosen master developer, the density for the Depot Square project is approximately sixty units per acre. This is a significantly higher density than most of the residential buildings in the city save for the obvious ones. I'd like to note that the developer is seeking CHAMP funding for targeting middle-income persons in need of affordable housing options. That may be an acceptable pursuit for some but one has to wonder what will happen if this housing does not become occupied by the demographic it is intended to be marketed to. What percentage of high-density residential buildings in the city do you suppose are primarily inhabited by people that are not living on assistance?
Either way, Regional Center or Urban Center, one can clearly see that the number of units targeted by planners in both are well over what Bristol's downtown currently offers. Some people have indicated that they think just a phase one building will be the end of the density created in the downtown. Almost all indications prove otherwise. The plan that Renaissance Downtowns has brought forward is underway as we speak. Under the Malloy administration, the majority of CT towns along the Metro North's New Haven Line have adopted TOD plans. The State Bonding Commission's most recent allocations of transportation funds left more than half of our transportation funds (more than $205 million) for "Bus and rail facilities and Equipment Including Rights-of-Way, Other Property Acquisition and Related Projects"
In addition to the creation of minimum density standards, the report makes suggestions regarding housing types and target goals for housing units to be created in the development.
Included in the ReconnectingAmerica TOD202 publication is a TOD checklist which is completely in line with the State of Connecticut Department's adopted "Complete Streets" guidelines and priorities in 2013. These guidelines commonly narrow roadways to include bicycle lanes to provide opportunities for those without automobiles. Of course, these people are described as those seeking alternative lifestyles that depart from conventional auto-centric lifestyles. I'm sure that these people exist somewhere where they are free from the hazards of snow and ice that makes this impossible for year round transportation options in the Northeast United States Tri-State area.
Among the numerous other indications that these transit-oriented projects are customarily planned outside the municipality, the document suggests that planners involve local planning commissions and city council members to "help ensure a public buy in". I could not help but notice there was no advocacy of pretending the entire plan was completely locally initiated. I guess some people involved in Bristol's so-called Unified Development Approach did not get the memo.
One can find the basis of the quality of life mantra for TOD in the charts provided by the ReconnectingAmerica's sister organization's "Center For Transit-Oriented Development."study. The measure to expand disposable income for struggling residents is focused upon the savings of household transportation expenses by decreasing automobile dependency. This is precisely the same ideology and source I previously found in both the CCRPA's recent Housing Draft Report with the information cited from a CT DOT official illustrated in one of my earlier blogs. Renaissance Downtowns' Concept Submission for their comprehensive downtown plan also refers to the same strategy that describes this method as an economic booster. With the massive subsidies required to implement the plan it will be impossible to recover the investment capital. This is precisely why I say that this plan can be better described as a social and environmental than one of economic development.
I'm sure that the local "Naysayer Branding Committee" will say that all this information put forth here is circumstantial regardless of the fact that these parties' plans for Bristol's future all contain the same references to what is clearly a central plan directed by special interests. How many uncanny similarities it will take to reveal to the public before they come clean remains to be seen, but for now we have a whole lot of people in this city whom have no intention of revealing much to the general public about how density, demographics and transportation plans are guiding the future of Bristol. Without revealing these details to the public while advocating for public monies for such investments is not only an immoral act but flies in the face of the very definition of representative government. Without such disclosure, the Plan of Conservation and Development's poll and accompanying public input amount to a farce or authoritarian consent form.
The map from their website indicates how expansive the nonprofit's efforts are. The Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of ReconnectingAmerica is Andriana Abariotes, whom is also the Executive Director of the Twin Cities Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC). LISC was chosen to manage the State of Connecticut's $15 million predevelopment and acquisition fund by Governor Dannel Malloy in 2014 as stated in this CHFA press release. The purpose of the fund is described as
As indicated at the Bristol Downtown Development Corporation's July meeting, the developer of the Depot Square project whom sought state funding for their high-density affordable housing development through the Department of Housing and Urban Development has applied for state predevelopment funds under the recommendation of the agency. With the State of Connecticut's Office of Policy and Management having given Bristol the designation of a Regional Center with Priority Funding, it has given the aforementioned document significance. This is not so much the association of the nonprofits involved but the simple fact that Bristol's Regional Council of Governments Planners are using these guides as a resource. To quote a recent reference from the President of the Central Connecticut Chamber of Commerce, "The devil may be in the details."
In addition to the creation of minimum density standards, the report makes suggestions regarding housing types and target goals for housing units to be created in the development.
Included in the ReconnectingAmerica TOD202 publication is a TOD checklist which is completely in line with the State of Connecticut Department's adopted "Complete Streets" guidelines and priorities in 2013. These guidelines commonly narrow roadways to include bicycle lanes to provide opportunities for those without automobiles. Of course, these people are described as those seeking alternative lifestyles that depart from conventional auto-centric lifestyles. I'm sure that these people exist somewhere where they are free from the hazards of snow and ice that makes this impossible for year round transportation options in the Northeast United States Tri-State area.
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