New York Metropolitan Transportation Council
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The Consortium that undertook the New York-Connecticut Sustainable Communities Initiative approved an Implementation Plan for Regional Sustainable Development on May 30, 2014.
NYMTC helped to organize the Initiative's collaborative effort and provided key support for the work of the Consortium and its three year program under the HUD grant.
A bi-state partnership of nine cities, two counties and five regional planning organizations that included NYMTC and the Regional Plan Association, received a $3.5 million Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) for the purpose of a sustainable communities initiative that leverages the region's robust transit network and promotes more sustainable growth per the local and regional planning of the Consortium's members.
Livability Principles
The six Livability Principles defined by the federal Partnership for Sustainable Communities guided the process:
- Provide more transportation choices
- Promote equitable, affordable housing
- Enhance economic competitiveness
- Support existing communities
- Coordinate policies and leverage investment
- Value communities and neighborhoods
More information is available at www.sustainablecommunities.gov.
In addition, three underlying themes cut across all activities: Community connections; Centers of growth and innovation; and Integrated Planning.
Planning Program
The planning program funded through the HUD grant involved a variety of activities that fell into three broad categories:
- Metropolitan planning and policy integration, which identified missing elements and opportunities for better alignment across political boundaries and between levels of government and which included a climate resilience strategic planning process undertaken by New York City;
- Northern Sector sustainability planning, to link large-scale, transit-oriented development projects at key nodes and corridors stretching from the Bronx through Westchester through four coastal cities in Connecticut; and
- Eastern Sector sustainability planning, for which four projects linked by the Long Island Rail Road from central Brooklyn to Eastern Suffolk County emphasized different elements of sustainability planning that can be replicated in different parts of the region.
Implementation Plan
The Implementation Plan for Sustainable Development includes: the outcomes of the place-based projects; and findings and recommendations to improve sustainability planning and to address issues of regional equity and opportunity.
click to download Executive Summary →
click to go to Consortium website →
Place-Based Projects
Through the Initiative, sixteen planning projects were completed at the level of subregions, local communities, and transportation corridors.
Link to Place Based Projects →
Ongoing Collaboration
Collaboration of the Consortium's work program under the HUD grant was successfully completed in 2014. Despite the conclusion of the grant, collaboration continues among members of the Consortium, building on the recommendations of the Implementation Plan and the planning work done in support of a variety of "place-based" planning projects undertaken as part of the grant.