Here's an interesting story.
I came across an article today about a bunch of new development proposed in St. Petersburg along their new Bus Rapid Transit line:
https://stpeterising.com/home/2023/4/18/mixed-use-apartment-building-proposed-for-central-avenue-near-34th-street
For those unaware, last year St. Pete's transit agency, PSTA, launched a new BRT line, SunRunner, between the center of the city and their beaches. Similarly to the First Coast Flyer, the project was funded by the FTA through a Small Starts grant. However, PSTA went much further than any of JTA's First Coast Flyer stations, building high-level bus stations, all-door boarding and dedicated lanes on most of the route, while also purchasing the new Gillig buses and signal priority that JTA did. SunRunner also operates twice as frequently as the Flyer's current schedules (although it is the promised off-peak frequency of the Flyer).
But what's interesting here is that in 2020, both JTA and PSTA received a federal TOD planning grant (https://www.transit.dot.gov/grants/grant-programs/fiscal-year-2019-transit-oriented-development-tod-planning-projects), JTA for the 10-mile First Coast Flyer Green Line, and PSTA for the 10-mile SunRunner. JTA actually received nearly $200,000 more than PSTA. And that's where the stories diverge.
PSTA took their grant, hired Kimley-Horn, and promptly put together a TOD plan, SunRunner Rising (https://psta.net/about-psta/projects/sunrunner/sunrunner-rising/), that was completed in early 2022 and adopted by St. Pete, South Pasadena, and the Pinellas TPO. More on that here (https://forwardpinellas.org/projects/sunrunner-rising/) and here (https://stpetecatalyst.com/psta-proposes-new-zoning-for-sunrunner-tod-for-increased-density/).
JTA, on the other hand, appears to have taken their grant, waited a year, hired Renaissance Planning Group in a bidding process that was combined with the Commuter Rail TOD study for some reason (which WSP won), and then didn't appear to have launched their TOD study, Northwest Jacksonville Connects (https://www.jaxconnects.com), until summer 2022. According to the study's website, it won't be complete until somewhere between January and October of this year. And it seems unclear what's actually going to happen once that study is complete.
It seems pretty strange that despite launching the Green Line 6 years ahead of the SunRunner, and receiving TOD planning grants the same year, JTA's TOD study will be finished more than a year after PSTA's, while SunRunner's completion is already attracting development.
A picture I took back in January showing SunRunner in the background at First Avenue and 22nd Street South:
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Cities/St-Petersburg---January-2023/i-zmkqTNV/0/ade4761f/X2/20230117_131520-X2.jpg)
St Petersburg is another city to keep your eyes on for future BRT TOD lies. The Central Avenue corridor has been one of hottest districts for urban infill and development in Florida for nearly 20 years. SunRunner benefits from being placed within that context and density moreso than the other way around. In reality, nothing should be considered TOD in St. Petersburg. It happens with or without the bus.
Marcus, you have highlighted a great deal of pain in my efforts here. In addition to that example you provided, JAX also fumbled the ball on OZ's. Not to stir the pot too much, but JAX almost didn't get their "selections" in on time and an extremely self-interested team was thrown together to get our picks in before the deadline. Let's just say there are several census tracts which should not be OZ's and several tracts that should be OZ's.
What has kicked JAX in the back both times, and on the U2C, is this attitude that only locals can be the decision makers. (Also the lack of care for federal $$$? Wasn't there a Jaxson article about freeway-neighborhood funding that we just didn't apply for?) Anyways, this has lead to extreme inefficiency and some really questionable decisions pertaining to massive Federal programs.. such as the TOD.
Not to bring up zoning again lakelander, but St. Pete just passed a really controversial (but good) middle housing zoning plan. It allows for much higher intensities to be built along certain corridors, which almost all have bus transit. Huge if you ask me that the city itself supports the transit systems they create.
https://www.tampabay.com/news/st-petersburg/2023/03/23/st-petersburg-zoning-ntm-1-city-council-vote/
Pinellas County is the densest in the state. St. Petersburg has been built out as a city for decades. Like Miami, the only opportunity to grow and increase the municipal tax base is with increased density. That doesn't mean the projects are Transit ORIENTED Development though. At best, Transit Adjacent Development, as the market there supports increased density regardless of if the transit agency runs a bus by a luxury apartment complex and five star restaurant or not. Probably one of my biggest pet peeves is the amount of money we waste on unnecessary studies. Nothing out of a local TOD study around an existing or proposed bus route is going to tell us what we already don't know. That bus also isn't going to create a market for dense development in an area where positive market dynamics aren't already in play. Like a scooter, the bus can be an amenity, but its very hard for it to be the driver. Much of this stuff was supposed to be addressed with the original mobility plan back in 2010.
Quote from: Jax_Developer on April 19, 2023, 10:55:43 AM
Wasn't there a Jaxson article about freeway-neighborhood funding that we just didn't apply for?)
I believe there was, maybe someone who can navigate this site's 'search' better than I can find it.
Along those lines, the North Florida TPO is finalizing its list of planning studies for Fiscal Year 2023-24, as part of the annual update to the Unified Planning Work Program. Earlier in the year, the NFTPO solicited the member governments, and the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) for study ideas. Staff reviewed those and presented their draft list of studies to be adopted at the May meetings. To tie this back to the quote above, one of the studies suggested by a the NFTPO Staff, but not included in the final list is:
Quote
Reconnecting Communities Plan
This project will perform a regional assessment where projects consistent with the intent of the Reconnecting Communities program, quantify their need, develop conceptual alternatives and quantify the potential impacts and benefits of the project to meet the needs of the community. The evaluation of projects will include safety, mobility, economic redevelopment and access to community resources.
Another weird one. Do we really need a study to read through the program criteria and rank our on-going and proposed projects by said criteria? Last year, it took us a good week or two to do this in-house for all the FDOT D5 projects across multiple counties. Most of what we need to determine and prioritize is already sitting in GIS and the RCI.
Quote from: thelakelander on April 19, 2023, 11:47:33 AM
Pinellas County is the densest in the state. St. Petersburg has been built out as a city for decades. Like Miami, the only opportunity to grow and increase the municipal tax base is with increased density. That doesn't mean the projects are Transit ORIENTED Development though. At best, Transit Adjacent Development, as the market there supports increased density regardless of if the transit agency runs a bus by a luxury apartment complex and five star restaurant or not. Probably one of my biggest pet peeves is the amount of money we waste on unnecessary studies. Nothing out of a local TOD study around an existing or proposed bus route is going to tell us what we already don't know. That bus also isn't going to create a market for dense development in an area where positive market dynamics aren't already in play. Like a scooter, the bus can be an amenity, but its very hard for it to be the driver. Much of this stuff was supposed to be addressed with the original mobility plan back in 2010.
Not claiming these to be TOD's, more just saying that St. Pete has been implementing great zoning policy to build out a robust city with all forms of housing. SFH's along collector or higher roads suffer tremendously, and bring down the area appeal. Building quads along collector and higher routes is a no brainer. It's the combined effort of several smart zoning changes that allow cities to support more robust ridership. TOD's can't survive on their own and I believe you need these policy changes to support transit efforts top to bottom.
JAX lacks any corridor type zoning near bus routes or simply on collector roadways. There could be thousands of more housing units in JAX within walking distance to already existing bus routes & stations with a policy change, such as the one passed in St. Pete.
St. Pete has been doing a lot of things right from a zoning and land use perspective for decades now. There's a lot Jax can learn from that front. Hopefully, one day Pinellas can invest in the type of transit that actually spurs TOD. In the meantime, it makes all the sense in the world to make sure their bus lines can take advantage of the things already happening there.