On October 18, the Los Angeles Business Council (LABC) and UCLA professor, Paul Habibi, released the 2013 Livable Communities Report: A Call to Action. The report picks up from Habibi’s 2012 analysis, Building Livable Communities: Enhancing Economic Competitiveness in Los Angeles in which Habibi concludes Angelenos are generally unable to afford to live close to where they work. The new report released this year, identifies and ranks neighborhoods best suited for transit-oriented development to alleviate this problem. The report bases its ranking on six demographic and market indicators and evaluates the placement of 104 potential stations. The report includes case studies of two particularly promising locations, the areas around the Van Nuys Orange Line Station and the area surrounding the Florence/La Brea Crenshaw Station in Inglewood. The report indicates that the promising opportunities are spread throughout LA County.
In the report, Habibi calls on policy makers to support transit oriented development in the identified neighborhoods through a variety of approaches including:
-
reducing parking requirements for developments constructed in areas abutting transit stops,
-
reducing development fees for transit oriented development, and
-
increasing density bonuses for such developments.
Habibi suggests that in addition to receiving support from policy makers, developers of transit oriented projects will need to look to creative funding sources, including the use of Infrastructure Financing Districts (IFDs) for infrastructure components of proposed Transit-Oriented Developments (TODs). While the report concludes with a number of key recommendations - issues still remain that make workforce housing development difficult without incentives or financial contributions from municipal partners.
The full text of the Livable Communities Report can be found here.
- See more at: http://www.goodwinsustainabledevelopment.com/blog/brandt/2013-livable-communities-study-released#sthash.vnGPd7PR.dpuf
On October 18, the Los Angeles Business Council (LABC) and UCLA professor, Paul Habibi, released the 2013 Livable Communities Report: A Call to Action. The report picks up from Habibi’s 2012 analysis, Building Livable Communities: Enhancing Economic Competitiveness in Los Angeles in which Habibi concludes Angelenos are generally unable to afford to live close to where they work. The new report released this year, identifies and ranks neighborhoods best suited for transit-oriented development to alleviate this problem. The report bases its ranking on six demographic and market indicators and evaluates the placement of 104 potential stations. The report includes case studies of two particularly promising locations, the areas around the Van Nuys Orange Line Station and the area surrounding the Florence/La Brea Crenshaw Station in Inglewood. The report indicates that the promising opportunities are spread throughout LA County.
In the report, Habibi calls on policy makers to support transit oriented development in the identified neighborhoods through a variety of approaches including:
-
reducing parking requirements for developments constructed in areas abutting transit stops,
-
reducing development fees for transit oriented development, and
-
increasing density bonuses for such developments.
Habibi suggests that in addition to receiving support from policy makers, developers of transit oriented projects will need to look to creative funding sources, including the use of Infrastructure Financing Districts (IFDs) for infrastructure components of proposed Transit-Oriented Developments (TODs). While the report concludes with a number of key recommendations - issues still remain that make workforce housing development difficult without incentives or financial contributions from municipal partners.
The full text of the Livable Communities Report can be found here.
