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NEEDED: advocates to champion community vision for transit oriented development

In June of 2009, the Broadway Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Community Stakeholder Committee selected a team of local architecture studio Schemata Workshop & the planning firm Makers to help synthesize community priorities for the TOD sites and develop a vision for the station area.

Our scope of work is reflected in the three documents available here for download.

The Recommendations Report, is the culmination of efforts by the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce, the City of Seattle Office of Economic Development, Seattle Departments of Planning and Transportation, Sound Transit, and the TOD Stakeholders Committee – a group that represents a wide range of Capitol Hill residents, business owners, and organizations. For over a year this group met regularly to influence the future of the Sound Transit sites adjacent the Capitol Hill light rail station.  

Two draft reports produced by the consultants preceded the attached final versions: The TOD Precedents Report and The Community Charrette Report. The first analyzes relevant transit oriented development cases, identifying financing and policy tools employed. The second summarizes the Capitol Hill community’s desires for the station area from the perspective of land-use and the built environment, and begins to envision the desired social, cultural, and ecological character. Understanding these first two documents will provide context to the actions called for in the third and final report, TOD Design & Development Guideline Recommendations.

Although an extensive collaborative effort has gone into the production of all three reports, this is not a conclusion to those efforts.  Rather, the Recommendations Report is a starting point for advocacy to ensure the goals represented here are successfully integrated into future development in the station area. It is important to recognize that actions assigned to the City depend on resources that are not currently committed, and will require a strong and determined community to champion their vision.  Likewise, it is important to understand that Sound Transit is first and foremost a builder of transit systems.  Strong and determined advocacy on the part of the community before Sound Transit will be needed to achieve success.

Finally, the recommendations presented are not placed in a hierarchy or priority order; it is ultimately the responsibility of the community to determine which to pursue and when.  We recommend immediately prioritizing advocacy activities and establishing a calendar of critical dates.  This will help to ensure that resources are focused in a time-effective manner, as many will require prolonged lobbying efforts with multiple public agencies.

While the breadth of the task may appear daunting at first read, the voice of many in the community is represented here and we have attempted to consolidate and bring clarity to their vision.  These documents should now be used to organize­­, promote, and attain this vision.

7pm Wednesday 10 February

Capitol Hill Community Council

Planning and Policy Committee Meeting

Bluebird Ice Cream and Tea House

1205 East Pike Street

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Andrew Taylor
Andrew Taylor
14 years ago

For the non-planning readership, may I suggest that you define acronyms the first time you use them (and do so again in future posts). You of course know what a TOD is, but many readers (including some, like me, who have been to lots of assorted neighborhood meetings) may not.

[the post was edited to define TOD since I submitted this comment. AFT]

We can figure it out, but it’s a courtesy to not keep us guessing.

TOD = transit oriented development.

BTW, you are not alone: I downloaded your first attachment. It mentioned TOD 68 times and never defined it! “Makers” have been working with neighborhood groups for decades and should know better.

PS: please upload illustrations at high enough resolutions to be read. Your colorful diagram has a legend, but cannot be enlarged enough to read the text!

Finish Tag
Finish Tag
13 years ago

What is the acronym BTW?

jseattle
jseattle
13 years ago

by the way