Menendez Co-Sponsors TOD Bill

September 27th, 2009 by Jay Corbalis

Menendez co-sponsors bill to promote TOD

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey) has co-sponsored legislation introduced by Christopher Dodd (D-Connecticut) to provide financial support for transit oriented development. According to a release from Senator Dodd’s office, the “Livable Communities Act” will:

• Create competitive planning grants that towns and regions can use to create comprehensive long-term plans that integrate transportation, housing, land use and economic development;

• Create challenge grants that towns and regions can use to implement these long-term plans through investments in public transportation, affordable housing, complete streets, transit-oriented development and brownfield redevelopment;

• Establish a federal Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities at the Department of Housing and Urban Development to administer and oversee the Livable Communities grant programs; and

• Establish a federal Interagency Council on Sustainable Communities that will include representatives from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Transportation, the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies to coordinate federal sustainable development policies.

According to StreetsBlog Capitol Hill, the bill would provide $4 billion to states and cities to pursue TOD and related projects. With a number that big, this bill is certain to garner attention from states eager for their share. Indeed, the list of co-sponsors is telling. In addition to Menendez, who has supported these concepts in the past (and whose state has both a State Plan and a TOD program in place that could conceivably be funded under this bill), there are co-sponsors from Colorado, Oregon and Hawaii, all of which have been active in pursuing TOD in recent years.

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Posted in Land Use Solutions, Local Planning, Planning and Governance, Smart Growth, Transit, Transit Oriented Development, Transportation, Transportation Funding

Tags: New Jersey, Senator Menedez, TOD, Transit, Transportation

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One Response to “Menendez Co-Sponsors TOD Bill”

1. Update from Washington « Garden State Smart Growth says:

   October 29, 2009 at 12:06 pm

   […] on land use and transportation in New Jersey, including one, the Livable Communities Act, that was previously featured in Garden State Smart […]