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 | TCSP-1999 Grant Proposals"Jefferson Area Eastern Planning Initiative" |
Jefferson Area Eastern Planning Initiative
TEA-21 Transportation and Community and System
Preservation Program Proposal
FY99-FY00
Type of Project: Planning Grant
Project Title and Location: Jefferson Area Eastern Planning Initiative, Charlottesville, Virginia
Organization: Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission and
Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization
Key Contact: Hannah Twaddell, Senior Planner; Nancy K. O’Brien, Executive Director
Address: PO Box 1505, Charlottesville, VA 22902
Phone: (804) 979-7310; fax (804) 979-1597
email: htwaddell.tjpd@state.va.us; nobrien.tjpd@state.va.us
Grant Request: $250,200 in FY99, $267,720 in FY2000 for a total of
$517,920. MPO, PDC and Project Team members will contribute $244,200 in staff
time and resources.
Abstract: The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission will develop a new model for integrated land use/transportation planning and use it to achieve a regional plan which lays the groundwork for the community’s 50-year vision. The model will build upon planning tools the PDC has been developing to improve the multi-modal design of neighborhoods, commercial centers, and transportation corridors. The model and planning process will be packaged as a handbook, CD-Rom and on the Web to make it easy for other small urban and rural communities to use them. The population of the 1,600 square-mile study area is approximately 175,000. It grew 16% between 1990 and 1998, compared to a state growth of 10%; county growth rates have ranged from 9% in the suburbs to 50% in rural areas, while the ten-square mile City has lost six percent of its population.
Jefferson Area Eastern Planning Initiative
PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The eastern portion of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District is growing quickly, especially in rural areas. This rapid growth is putting a strain on existing infrastructure, and is expected to overwhelm the capacity of facilities such as major roads within twenty years. The region’s leaders and citizens have committed to sustainable planning principles through a number of plans and vision statements. However, these plans have not always been coordinated, and a process for integrated land use and transportation planning has not been established. Through the Eastern Planning Initiative, the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission (PDC) will accomplish the following goals:
The project is phased over two years. During the first year, the prototype model will be developed, building upon two planning tools the PDC has been developing: the Real Accessibility Index, which rates the multi-modal accessibility of neighborhoods, and the Traffic Diet Game, which stimulates the development of creative traffic reduction strategies for congested corridors (see attached summaries). It will be packaged as a handbook, CD-ROM and on the Web for other communities to try.
During the second year, the community will develop a 50-year vision and use the model to develop a regional plan for land use and transportation that supports the quality of life desired by area residents, sustains the natural environment and promotes innovative private development. The chart on page three summarizes the visioning, planning and modeling process.
TCSP funds will support a team of local, regional and state staff, complemented by consultants, who will work with a wide variety of citizens and organizations to develop the model, vision, and plan. The advisory committee will include a wide variety of constituents such as transportation and land use planners, artists, environmentalists, human service providers, and advocates for the poor, the elderly and people with disabilities. The list of organizations invited to participate is attached, with notes as to those who have already sent letters of support.
The Initiative will draw from a large body of previous plans and studies on sustainability, mobility, economic development, environmental preservation, and human services. It will also bring together six current planning activities: the MPO’s Eastern Transportation Initiative, which is focused on multi-modal and land use solutions for congestion identified in the urban area traffic model (initially conceived as a Major Investment Study); the Rural Area Transportation Study Year 2015, being developed by the PDC and VDOT; the Zion Crossroads Development Strategy, a public-private proposal for an employment, commercial and residential center which supports regional traffic reduction; the VDOT Route 250 East Corridor Study; and VDOT access management studies for Route 29 in Greene and Albemarle Counties.
Geographic Scale: The study area includes the counties of Greene, Fluvanna, Louisa, Albemarle and the City of Charlottesville (see attached map). Major transportation facilities include National Highway System corridors US 29, US 250, and Interstate 64; several primary and secondary roads along which growth is occurring; two major rail lines which intersect in the city; the Charlottesville-Albemarle regional airport, and a small Louisa County airport; and regional transit and ridesharing services. Localities are also investing in the information highway, partnering with the University of Virginia to recruit high-technology businesses such as the burgeoning Internet retailer Value America. The population of the 1,600 square mile study area is approximately 175,000. It grew 16% between 1990 and 1998, compared to a state growth of 10%; county growth rates have ranged from 9% in the suburbs to 50% in rural areas, while the ten-square mile City has lost six percent of its population.
The study will also address how this area relates to surrounding socio-economic centers including Nelson County and industrial areas south to the North Carolina border; Richmond and its growing suburbs to the east; and the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area to the northeast. (See map of study area within Virginia).
Expected Results in Short, Long Term: In the short term, the project will 1) form new partnerships among the MPO, VDOT and a wide variety of constituents; 2) establish a process of modeling and dialogue for planning transportation and land use together, which does not currently exist in Virginia; and 3) provide a model for other communities to try. It may provide FHWA with ideas for revising the Major Investment Study. In the long term, the process will result in a series of transportation and land use investments which enable this region, and others who use this model and process, to achieve its goals for quality of life.
Vision for Ultimate Impact: Local, regional, state, and federal decision makers will make investments in land use and transportation which clearly support the community’s stated goals for sustainable development, environmental preservation, and human services. A continual process of dialogue among decision makers, planners, businesses, and the public, supported by a useful, comprehensive model to identify problems and develop and evaluate strategies, will ensure that these investments best reflect the shared values of the region. Other communities in the nation who adopt the process will improve their ability to plan sustainable land use and transportation investments, which will help reverse the current national trend towards sprawl and congestion.
Improving the Efficiency of the Transportation System: The planning process will allow decision makers to identify the root causes of transportation problems and to weigh the short-term and long-term costs and benefits of the entire range of possible solutions. This will address several aspects of efficiency, such as supporting decisions that make the best use of existing resources; addressing the real causes of transportation problems so solutions eliminate the issue rather than serving as “band-aids”; providing a forum for planning and programming land use and transportation investments simultaneously instead of separately.
Reducing the Impact of Transportation on the Environment: The Initiative will use the region’s sustainability indicators in the modeling and planning process. Proposed solutions will then be evaluated for their environmental impacts throughout the entire process, giving these issues more rigorous review and equal weight. The process will also examine how telecommunications and ITS can help solve long-term problems by changing the underlying patterns of travel and transportation demand.
Reducing the Need for Costly Future Investments in Public Infrastructure: By providing a forum and process for coordinated land use and transportation planning, local and state agencies can move away from the game of “catch-up” in which localities develop land quickly and demand road expansions, resulting in a constant state of pressure which does not allow decision makers to stop and re-examine whether the entire system could be designed more efficiently in the first place. By using a model which examines the root causes of transportation problems and evaluates the lifelong costs and benefits of solutions, the most efficient alternatives will emerge as more favorable than strategies which fix symptoms but not chronic problems.
The Eastern Planning Initiative Visioning & Modeling Process
Community Visioning: How do we want the area to look and function in 50 years?
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Neighborhood/Commercial Center Model: Optimal community design
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Corridor Model: Optimal use of existing corridors
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Regional Model: Blueprint for the vision
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Community Consensus: Will This Plan Lead Us To The Vision?
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Return to Neighborhood/Commercial Center Model and repeat process until community consensus is reached. |
Implementation |
(*End products include handbook, CD-ROM, and web page for other small urban and rural areas to use.)
Ensuring Efficient Access to Jobs, Services, and Centers of Trade: By participating in an integrated land use and transportation planning process, localities and developers will be encouraged to plan new development and to redesign existing areas to support an efficient transportation system, and to work with transportation officials on a truly multi-modal system for area residents and visitors. The Zion Crossroads development will be a specific design considered in the process. The Initiative will also incorporate the infill design strategies of the Albemarle County Development Areas study and Charlottesville’s plans to encourage reinvestment in the central city.
Examining Development Patterns, Identifying Strategies for Private Sector Development: The Initiative will draw upon the PDC regional build-out analysis, a study of residential build-out based on local comprehensive plans which shows significant sprawl even in areas of planned growth management. The model will include similar analyses for employment and commercial centers, and the plan will identify tools local governments can use to support sustainable land development in this particular market.
Consistency with State and Metropolitan Planning Process: The Initiative is based in part upon the call for an MIS in the MPO’s long range plan. Study recommendations and information will be incorporated into the MPO plan update. VDOT is beginning a process of developing the first truly multi-modal statewide plan, and may find the study process useful in establishing their methods. Indicators of state and MPO sign-off in the Evaluation Plan include incorporation of the recommendations in MPO and statewide plans and programs, as well as local comprehensive land use plans.
Coordination with MPO and VDOT: MPO Board members (including a VDOT representative) will participate on the Advisory Committee, and VDOT will be asked to serve on the Project Team. The MPO has endorsed and funded preparation of the proposal, which is based on the Eastern Planning Initiative in the MPO Work Program. The MPO’s study will be conducted regardless of whether the TCSP project is funded. Data collected by the MPO, including a regional household telephone survey and real accessibility indices for urban area neighborhoods, will be contributed to the TCSP project.
Participants/ Non Traditional Partners: The project will include a team of planners and consultants from the Planning District Commission, MPO, VDOT, the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Architecture, and the Design Resources Center at the UVA Institute for Sustainable Design, complemented by consultants in traffic modeling, land use planning, and facilitation. This team will work with an advisory committee designed to represent a wide variety of perspectives, as noted on the attached list. The number and variety of advisors and participants will likely grow as the study progresses. Information about the work in progress will also be posted on the Internet so that anyone from around the world can send us comments and be involved in the process.
Public Involvement and Education: The variety of organizations on the advisory committee will help ensure the model is understandable to the general public, and that the public participation is designed to engage a real variety of viewpoints. Facilitators will host 24 charettes in the community, and the Design Resources Center will make the process easy to understand by sharing information through drawings and stories as well as maps and models. The Web postings will invite additional local and global participation. The handbook will allow other communities to try the process and learn about sustainable planning.
Equitable Distribution of Grants to Diverse Populations: Some of the features which make this planning process unusual in the nation include:
SCHEDULE: See attached Project Schedule.
BUDGET: See attached Project Budget.
Commitment of Non Federal Resources: As shown in the attached Project Budget, the project will make use of staff time and current studies funded by the MPO, PDC, VDOT, local governments, and University of Virginia, valued at $244,200 for the two year period, or 32% of the total Initiative project budget. Previous investments made by the community upon which the Initiative will build include over a dozen plans and studies on transportation, land use, the natural environment, sustainable development, and human services with a total value of $1,976,914.
Project Evaluation Plan: See attached Evaluation Plan.
About the Transportation and Community and System Preservation Pilot Program
About the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission Transportation Program
Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission Homepage
Last updated June 24, 1999 dwr
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