America of the 1870s saw a lot of towns suddenly appear along the rail lines as the population moved westward. Chicago and Los Angles grew into large cities and rail hubs from small towns, because people wanted to be near transportation. Smaller towns like Sayre, Pennsylvania started as a company-controlled entity as the railroad located headquarters there.

Today there is not much new rail construction, but there is a move to locate more apartments and homes close to the rail lines. In Philadelphia, we are lucky enough to have the Main Line (east/west) running right through major population areas with off-shoot regional rail lines (north/south) providing transit opportunities for most of the area.

The idea is to make it possible for people to get by without owning an auto, or having an auto as secondary option for getting to and from employment centers. Transit Oriented Development (TOD) has become a buzzword as apartment complexes are being built near train stations to concentrate the population close to the lines.

I am currently working on a TOD in my town, Castle Shannon, in Pittsburgh. Castle Shannon is lucky enough to have six transit stations in the borough, none of which have handicapped accessibility to the station from the street. My job in Castle Shannon is to package the grants to enable the stations to be connected and walk-able. Including streetscape improvements, the project will come in at around four million dollars. 

In many cases, the path to a TOD is a long one, because the object is to create density and many times that conflicts with existing zoning. In some cases, the land near the railroad has problems like contamination or steep slopes. It is not easy when all of the variables are taken into account. There are times when people come out of the woodwork to protest projects like a TOD.

Is a TOD a radical idea? No, I do not think so, but it represents a break from current zoning, and many times people get nervous when that is the case. People in higher income areas worry that there will be a decline in income criteria and lower income people will congregate near the rail line. Other times, residents are concerned about the design or location of a TOD, because of traffic considerations. 

TOD usually goes along with rail station improvements, bike racks, trails and other improvements to make the station more accessible to alternative means of access. In my current project, we are looking to do basic improvements like crosswalks. Currently there are a couple of crosswalks to nowhere that are not the result of stimulus funding, but are original and were made possible through neglect.

We are doing the improvements because there will be 152 new apartments located in the downtown, and we want them to be able to move to the commercial areas unimpeded in order to shop. This is like the holy grail for a community that is aging, and has had the populations locked around the same amount for a number of years.  Communities that are flexible in their zoning are willing to make the project a couple of years long, instead of a couple of decades long, are normally the beneficiary of a TOD development.  

A change in the demographic not only means more customers in the town, but also could cause political shifts in the council as new people could vote as a block. The change in the demographic is an issue that can cause social conflict, because of their racial makeup or their income ratios depending upon the community. Normally these communities never see the project get past the planning stages because of residents protesting the development. 

In a way, it is a double-edged sword, because people want the new tax ratables and new shoppers in the downtown, but many times they are opposed to change — The change in the type of development allowing for massive changes in the units per acre, the change in the demographic living there, all cause pause in smaller communities with a narrower focus.

It is the communities that are open both to change in density and demographics that are the winners in a TOD scenario. The convenience of living in apartments next to a rail station will provide a demand for the apartments. The newer generation of apartment dwellers tries to free themselves from reliance on the automobile. My daughter lives in Palo Alto, CA and has yet to get her driver’s license, as she uses the train to get where she is going. I remember when she lived at home in Downingtown; she took two trains and a bus to get to high school at Notre Dame Academy. She did not see a need for a car then or now.

There are a lot of plusses for someone like me who revitalizes downtowns for a living… more people, more shoppers means more people downtown and more foot traffic to use as a draw for commercial rentals.

Barry Cassidy is a freelance grant and economic development consultant. He can be reached at barrycassidy@comcast.net.