Policy Framework - Jacksonville Transportation Authority

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City of Jacksonville Policy Framework for Transit-Oriented Development Federal Transit Administration To receive discretionary funds from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for transit improvements, Jacksonville competes with other localities from across the southeast and the country. The FTA is placing a heavy emphasis on land use planning when making funding recommendations, evaluating an area’s growth management strategies, transit supportive corridor policies, station area zoning regulations, and implementation tools. A comprehensive set of TOD policies will address each of these factors in detail, based on FTA’s guidance. As such, TOD policies will be critical in capturing federal dollars to build the transit systems that are necessary to keep Jacksonville and other American cities running. Federal Transit Administration New Starts Program The New Starts program supports locally planned, implemented and operated transit capital investments. It is the federal government’s primary financial resource for funding new transit projects. The New Starts program funds various types of transit - commuter rail, heavy rail, light rail or Bus Rapid Transit – and is intended for large-scale projects. As required by the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users, the FTA must prioritize transit projects for funding. To be eligible for federal funding, a project must advance through the different project development phases of the New Starts program, including alternatives analysis, preliminary engineering, and final design. Alternatives Analysis Using the statutorily identified criteria, FTA evaluates projects as a condition for advancement into each project development phase of the program. New Starts projects must emerge from a regional, multimodal transportation planning process. The first two phases of the New Starts process - systems planning and alternatives analysis - address this requirement. The systems planning phase identifies the transportation needs of a region, while the alternatives analysis phase provides information on the benefits, costs, and impacts of different options, such as rail lines or bus routes, in a specific corridor versus a region. The alternatives analysis phase results in the selection of a locally preferred alternative, which is the New Starts project that FTA evaluates for funding. Mobility Improvements (20%) Public Transportation Supportive Land Use (20%) Environmental Benefits (10%) Project Justification Rating Economic Development Effects (20%) Cost Effectiveness (20%) Operating Efficiencies (10%) 12 | What is Required to Make TOD Work Figure 5 - Federal Transit Administration New Starts Project Justification Rating
City of Jacksonville Policy Framework for Transit-Oriented Development Preliminary Engineering After a locally preferred alternative is selected, the project sponsor submits an application to FTA for the project to enter the preliminary engineering phase. When this phase is completed and federal environmental requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act are satisfied, FTA may approve the project’s advancement into final design. FTA may then recommend the project for a Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) and advance the project into construction. Changes to New Starts Criteria In 2009, the FTA commenced a major update to the New Starts criteria. The proposed changes include a shift from reliance on cost effectiveness as the primary criteria to a greater emphasis on land use, economic development and the potential TOD within planned transit corridors and station areas. As of January 2010, the FTA put out a press release indicating the Administration will no longer target its funding recommendations only to projects that receive a Medium or better cost-effectiveness rating, but that a project must receive an overall rating of at least Medium and be expected to be ready funding. This recent change in effect de-emphasizes the costeffectiveness rating. If a project could demonstrate an overall rating of Medium or better it could be considered for funding, and cost-effectiveness alone will not be a limiting factor. Communities around the country seeking to position themselves for New Starts funding have begun to update land use policies to enable TOD. FTA is now incorporating levels of TOD policy readiness into the criteria for New Starts prioritization. Communities that have policies in place and demonstrated success in implementing projects with transit-supportive densities will now have an advantage in competing for New Starts funds. The project justification rating of a project seeking New Starts funding will be based on ratings for the following criteria with the weights shown in parentheses: mobility improvements (20%), environmental benefits (10%), cost effectiveness (20%), operating efficiencies (10%), economic development effects (20%), and public transportation supportive land use (20%). Figure 5 and Table 1 illustrate and describe this ranking and criteria. Criteria Measures/Categories Mobility Improvements Measured by travel time benefits per project passenger mile, low-income households served, and employment near stations. Environmental Benefits Cost Effectiveness Operating Efficiencies Economic Development Transit Supportive Land Use & Future Patterns Other Measured by change in regional pollutant emissions, change in regional energy consumption, and EPA air quality designation. Measured as the cost per hour of travel time saved. Measured by system operating cost per passenger mile. Measured by transit supportive plans and policies, performance and impacts of policies. Measured by existing land use, transit supportive plans and policies and performance, and impacts of policies. Includes a number of optional factors, including the projected economic impact of project. Table 1: Federal Transit Administration - New Starts Criteria and Measures What is Required to Make TOD Work | 13
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