Session: Transportation Investment Strategies That Support Development

March 30, 10:15 AM

Mark E. Gander, AICP
Affiliation

Speakers at this session addressed the topic of “Transportation Investment Strategies That Support Development.” Projects described are from Minneapolis (Mark Gander), Salt Lake City (Gerry Tully), and Denver (Marilee Utter).

The following are summary notes from Mark Gander’s presentation, "Transportation Shaping Urban Design". Information on the other presenter’s remarks and presentation material can be obtained by contacting the presenters directly (see below for contact information).

Transportation Shaping Urban Design

Mr. Gander’s Presentation – Summary Notes on the Hiawatha Light Rail Transit & Station Area Planning

• Slide 1 – Slide 7 This is a presentation about the planning and construction of the first LRT system to be built in Minneapolis. It will open next year in 2004. The planning aspect is a station area planning process and Master Plan formulated for the City of Minneapolis and its neighborhood organizations that would be served by one of the light rail transit stops (46th Street). The Hiawatha line is part of a system of high capacity transit corridors. Of the other transit corridors, the project delivery of the Hiawatha line is far ahead of other corridors.
• Slide 7 – Minneapolis has a very high quality of life – a land of a thousand lakes and just as many parks. This natural quality is important to keep in mind as we investigate the issues surrounding station area planning along the Hiawatha LRT.
• Slide 8 – The opportunity of the Hiawatha Line and most transit corridor planning in the Twin Cities is to leverage accomplishment and resources. The Twin Cities has a Smart Growth Plan and Integrated Land Use and Transportation Planning Framework advanced by the Metropolitan Council under Ted Mondale and worked on by Peter Calthorpe. There is widespread community support; relatively strong transit market with an excellent transit provider (Metro Transit), and underpinned by a quality environment.
• Slide 9 – 16 The Hiawatha alignment (route) connects the largest activity centers and primary origins and destinations of trips in all of Minnesota. The Project Elements are shown in this slide; the route; and example of vehicle technology and innovations in trackage. One of the key challenges of the Hiawatha LRT line is the integration of a turn key (design/build) project construction and engineering with station area planning. Notable the sometimes iterative nature of the interface between design/build and station area planning. Design issue surfaced through the planning process. Changes to the final design result in “change orders” that increase the budget and result in scope changes to the contractor/designer. What design/build the right delivery mechanism? Yes, but the challenge was/is to remain flexible and assess the potential project risk early. Thus, “managing to the risk” is key for successful project delivery of LRT design/build with evolving station area planning activities, some of which ripen into development projects that support transit.
• Slide 17 – 20 Examples of transit oriented development planning principles that framed station area planning along the Hiawatha line.
• Slide 21 – 33 Let’s look at the 46th Street and Hiawatha Station Area Planning Process. A project I worked on two years ago. The natural qualities of the 46th Street station area are apparent from the aerial photos. It’s adjacent to Minnehaha Creek with close proximity to large parks and the Mississippi is within a ten minute walk east of the site. There is also a number of not so friendly transit land use uses in vicinity of the station site such as large big box retail, strip commercial, and a gas station. The traffic conditions with a high volume 45000 ADT intersection and car speeds often approaching 50 MPH (while the posted speed is 35 MPH, the design speed of the state roadway Hiawatha is for high volume, high speed principal arterial at 50 MPH +). The street width is also very wide in addition to a wide “break down” lane that is used sometimes for travel. All of these conditions create of pedestrian unfriendly environment. Especially in consideration that this station – as well as most stations along the Hiawatha do not have park-n-ride facilities, and access to the station is projected to be by foot, bus, or limited drop off of passengers for the LRT.
• Slide 34 – 44 Through an extensive public involvement and outreach process, the City of Minneapolis commissioned consultants to formulate a TOD station area planning study and Master Plan. I was one of the managers of the station area planning process. Three schemes were developed in coordination with neighborhood groups and open forums held in school gyms. Several specialized studies were done on traffic operations and creating pedestrian facilities to make the place more pedestrian friendly. We examined the high voltage power line easements and the allowable development envelope. The slides depict the land use and development scenarios proposed, and example renderings.
• Slide 45 – This slide highlights the updates to the process and that the Master Plan was adopted by the City of Minneapolis last year.
• Slide 46 – Cartoon

Author and Copyright Information

Mark E. Gander, AICP – Moderator and Speaker on Minneapolis, Minnesota case study of the Hiawatha Avenue (Highway 55) light rail transit design/build project and a TOD/station area plan that was completed for the 46th Street and Hiawatha area.

Mark E. Gander is a Project Manager with AECOM Consult (a division of DMJM+HARRIS) in the New York City office. He has provided services to public agencies, owners, operators, developers, and builders of transportation, infrastructure, systems, and real estate projects. Projects managed include major long-range highway, freight and multi-modal transportation improvements, mass transit (bus and rail) planning and construction, master-planned communities, mixed-use real estate developments, transit-oriented development/joint development projects, recreation/resort developments, brownfield redevelopments, environmental assessments, market feasibility and economic impact assessments. He has special expertise in transportation planning for livable communities focusing on connections between transportation and land use patterns and policy strategies; evaluating multi-modal transportation investment projects using the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and related federal and state regulations; and station area planning, and transit-oriented / joint development.

His current work with AECOM Consult is environmental management oversight contractor to the Federal Transit Administration’s Lower Manhattan Recovery Office. FTA is charged with the administration of $4.75 billion of Federal funds for public transportation projects in support of the recovery and revitalization of Lower Manhattan following the September 11, 2002 terrorist attacks.

Previously, he was a Principal Planner with the Parsons Transportation Group where he led transit-oriented development planning, land use analysis for the West Corridor DEIS/PE – a new start light rail transit route from downtown Denver to Jefferson County Government Center.

He holds a BA in Politics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a MA from UCLA in Urban Planning. He is active in New York APA chapter, and community design groups.

Contact Information:
MARK GANDER, AECOM Consult, 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158. Phone: 212-973-3183. Email: mark.gander@aecomconsult.com

GERARD P. TULLY – Speaker on Transit Oriented Development experience along the Wasatch Front region (Salt Lake City to Ogden metropolitan area).

Gerard P. Tully is Executive Vice President of The Proterra Companies, an award winning real estate development company based in Salt Lake City. Mr. Tully entered the world of development after a 19-year career in the planning profession. He is the founding partner of Tully Design Group, Inc., an urban design and land use consulting firm.
Mr. Tully's career has focused on the planning, design, entitlement and implementation of mixed use, commercial, residential and resort real estate developments throughout the western United States. In Utah he has been involved in the master planning, entitlement and construction of several projects, including the Communities of Rosecrest, Farmington Preserve, Centennial, Suncrest, and Silver Springs.

Recent design and development projects that have focused on Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND) concepts, in-fill development and New Urbanism include Farmington Greens, the Woods Cross Town Center, and Stanford Court Townhomes. Current re-development projects include Union Square on historic 25th Street in Ogden, the Fireclay Transit community in Murray, Utah and new residential mixed-use design for Blocks 53 and 71 in downtown Salt Lake City. Each of these projects is related to existing rail transit systems.

He currently serves the community as President of the Sugarhouse Park Authority, Vice Chair and Program Chair of the Utah Chapter of the Urban Land Institute, a member of the Envision Utah Toolbox Advisory Board and the Governor_s Trails Initiative Task Force. Mr. Tully has been a guest lecturer for the Urban Land Institute (ULI), Envision Utah, the American Planning Association (APA), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the University of Utah Department of Planning and Geography. He has recently been appointed to the National Leadership Council of the Urban Land Institute in Washington, D.C.

Contact Information:
Gerard Tully, Proterra Companies, Inc., 261 East Broadway Suite 100, Salt Lake City, Utah 84111, Phone: 801) 363-3390 Email: gerry@proterrainc.com

MARILEE A. UTTER – Speaker

Marilee A. Utter is President of Citiventure Associates LLC, a Denver-based real estate development and consulting firm specializing in Transit Oriented Development (TOD), urban infill, and public-private transactions. Areas of particular expertise include mixed-use projects, bus and rail-anchored developments, large scale master planning, reuse of historic buildings, and recapture of environmentally impacted sites.

Marilee’s unique background in both public and private real estate has lead to nationally published articles and numerous engagements focused on innovative approaches to community redevelopment and urban issues. Projects of note include leading the Development Around Transit efforts on the T-Rex project and over 25 other sites in the Denver region; redevelopment of a failed regional mall, Cinderella City, into a one million sf mixed-use transit-oriented town center; redevelopment of a 350,000sf historic downtown department store, the Denver Dry Building, into housing, retail and office spaces; and masterplan and zoning for 65 acres in Denver’s Central Platte Valley, transforming the urban railyard into the region’s premiere commercial, residential and recreational district.

Previously, she was Transit-Oriented Development Specialist for the Regional Transportation District (Denver), Regional Vice President for Trillium Corporation, a real estate development company, Director of Asset Management for the City and County of Denver, and Vice President of Wells Fargo Bank.
She holds a BA in Mathematics and French from Colorado Women’s College, an MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School, and certificate in State and Local Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School.

Professional affiliations include the Counselor of Real Estate designation; member Urban Land Institute, CU Real Estate Center and the Congress for New Urbanism. She serves on the board of several community organizations, including the Metropolitan State College of Denver Foundation and the Center for the Visual Arts.

MARILEE UTTER, President, Citiventure Associates, LLC1488 Wazee Street, # 3C, Denver, Colorado 80202, (303) 534-6620, citiventure@aol.com