10 years of Transit Oriented Development: The Look Ahead

The Capitol Region Council of Governments (CROG) along with Connecticut Main Street Center hosted a 10-year celebration and summit of Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) in Hartford with hundreds of attendees from across the state.

Hosted by Parkville Management, the Keynote speaker was the Executive Director from the Connecticut Municipal Redevelopment Authority, David Kooris.  Kooris is also the President of the Board of the Connecticut Port Authority, and President of Stamford Downtown. He also teaches at Yale.

Connecticut Main Street Center and its Executive Director, Michelle McCabe, hosted the event, along with CROG and their Executive Director, Matt Hart. 

The redevelopment agency is rebranding to the Connecticut Municipal Development Authority (CMDA), and there are 9 municipalities that have joined with 25 in the process of doing so.

The Economic Development Director from New London, Felix Reyes, is the Chair of the CMDA board.

Governor Ned Lamott established the Connecticut Municipal Redevelopment Authority in July of 2024. The MRDA is a quasi-public state agency. 

Their main goal? Support TOD with a particular focus on housing. 

What is TOD?

According to TOD.org, TOD is the trend to create livable, vibrant, and sustainable communities. 

This means municipalities that are walkable, mixed-use, and compact that have connections to effective, efficient, and high-quality train and bus systems. 

TOD is a key element in reducing climate change and creating better, more livable towns and cities. It is estimated that municipalities with TOD see a reduction in driving up to 85 percent. 

CMDA

The authority is working with these municipalities to unlock opportunities for TOD, and also is creating development district boundaries. These lines on the map make the projects that they are able and willing to support more clearly understandable. 

Through public-private partnerships (PPP), the Authority is hoping to help market municipalities. The goal is simple: align regulatory framework to support municipalities.

CMDA and towns across the state are acting as partners to help increase the likelihood of investment, all of which is coming from strong support from Governor Ned Lamott.

Governor Lamott has already allocated over $60 million in bonds to invest in TOD, and $600,000 a year for CMDA.

Kooris eloquently said that “the best view of Connecticut is to see the evolution of TOD from a passenger train.” 

Panel Discussions

One of the key highlights of the panel discussions was the emphasis on collaboration.

“That is when the magic happens,” said Nicole Bosco, the Executive Director of the New Britain Downtown District, and one of the panelists. 

Many municipalities have been using the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to help spark an increase in TOD.

Some panelists also recalled the “glory days” of their municipalities when there was enormous foot traffic downtown, but they also remained hopeful and optimistic about the current trajectory of their downtowns leading towards more TOD and effective development.

Barriers 

Some of the challenges and obstacles to TOD were discussed.

Bad zoning continued to be a point of emphasis, “zoning is a guide for development” said the first panelist. 

Taxes and housing policy were other barriers to more TOD that were discussed. 

Connecticut is short 100,000 housing units and a housing affordability problem. 

One of the questions from the audience was related to the “169 fiefdoms throughout the state of Connecticut” an analogy to the 169 municipalities that “could use more opportunities to work together.” 

Public Private Partnerships

Another strong trend and main point of discussion was regarding public private partnerships (PPP). 

Through these sort of partnerships, the Hartford Line on the Connecticut Rail in Windsor has seen a 14 percent increase in ridership.

Windsor also had an example of a redevelopment project taking an old mill and converting it into 50 condos.

“We have to divorce our love affair with parking lots,” said Keller Glass, President of Citizens for a Thriving Windsor.

“Giving up is not an option,” said Jordan Polon, who is the Executive Director of the Hartford Business Improvement District (HBID).  

“It’s really about connecting people,” said Grace Yi, a Senior Planner for the City of Hartford.

Plenary Panel Discussion

Deputy Commissioner and Chief Investment Officer of the State of Connecticut Department for Economic and Community Development (DECD), Matt Pugliese, 

Previously, Matt joined the Department in 2022 to help launch the Community Investment Fund 2030 program.

The CIF is a $875 million-dollar five-year program with the goal of increasing economic development across the state. Pugliese also serves on the town council in Old Saybrook. 

Deputy Commissioner of Department of Transportation (DOT), Laoise King,  said “the Governor has made it a priority to alleviate the housing crisis for all departments of our government,” and it is evidenced through the inclusion of the different departments of government on the Board of the CMDA. 

Deputy Commissioner of Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), Emma Cimino said  “we know TOD leads to less emissions and takes cars off the road.” 

“TOD is a great opportunity to reposition brownfields,” she continued.  

Matt Pugliese of DECD said they are “potential funding partners” and provide “free tech services along with the Connecticut Boost fund to give access to capital” along with being a thought partner. 

Pugliese mentioned there are 18 potential TOD locations throughout the state ready for investment.