Transportation & Land Use Initiative

What is the Connecting Transportation and Land Use Systems (CTLUS) Initiative?

In September 2008, the Urban Land Institute (ULI) selected ULI Minnesota (ULI MN) and its Regional Council of Mayors (RCM) as one of four ULI District Councils (along with Chicago, Seattle, and SE Florida) to participate in ULI’s Curtis Regional Infrastructure Project. The ULI MN/RCM Connecting Transportation and Land Use (CTLUS) Initiative was established to conduct research and to raise awareness of emerging transportation and land use issues in the Twin Cities metropolitan region and to foster cooperation and action at the local, state, regional, and national levels. The overarching mission is to advance the region’s understanding of the importance of the connection between transportation and land use in support of mobility, livability, sustainability, and job growth.

Reinvesting in the Region

Leaders in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul region recognize that the world has changed; the old development models no longer meet diversifying market preferences or embrace emerging opportunities. In order to help their region compete, ULI Minnesota in partnership with the Regional Council of Mayors (RCM) created a targeted list of strategies to encourage transformative development. They examined the rules and incentives that guide the real estate market and produced an action strategy targeting the region’s development culture, regulations, and incentives. Reinvesting in the Region proposes “a bold new toolbox to catalyze transformative investments. An Action Plan to Make it Easier to Do Better”. Read the Reinvesting in the Region.

ULI MN Transformative Development Strategy Toolkit

(Re)Development Ready Guide

Developed by a cross-section of public and private sector leaders engaged in the support of making it easier to do better – The Redevelopment Ready Guide is specifically designed as a guide for local government in establishing (re)development policies and practices that use scarce public dollars to attract private investment, grow jobs, and build tax base for the well-being of our region. Based on national trends, these best practices support a proactive approach that provides clarity, transparency, collaboration, and efficiency to support thriving, sustainable communities essential to remaining competitive in a new economy. View the new interactive (Re)Development Ready Guide!

Advisory Services

The Urban Land Institute has a long history of providing unbiased, market-based solutions and best practice advice on land use and building resilient and competitive communities.

At ULI Minnesota, we offer two advisory service options to policy leaders:

1. Navigating Your Competitive Future

2. Technical Assistance Panel (TAP)

Each option engages ULI Minnesota real estate professionals who volunteer their time and talent to contribute their wisdom and expertise.

Corridors of Opportunity

ULI Minnesota is a key partner in the “Corridors of Opportunity” program – an initiative undertaken by a broad consortium of public, nonprofit, and private sector partners seeking to achieve the following draft shared vision:

“Transitway corridors will guide our region’s growth, vitality and competitiveness. Development along transitways will create distinctive places and strengthen local assets while increasing ridership and expanding access to jobs, affordable housing, and essential services for residents of all incomes and backgrounds.”

The Corridors of Opportunity initiative has two primary components: (1) the Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant; and (2) the Living Cities Integration Initiative. Learn more at the Metropolitan Council’s webpage.

Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant:

The focus of the Sustainable Communities initiative is to create detailed transit-oriented land use plans and development strategies along five emerging transitways:

1. Southwest LRT 2. Bottineau 3. Cedar Avenue Bus Rapid Transit 4. Northstar Commuter Rail 5. The Gateway Corridor (I-94 East)

The project is being funded through a $5M Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to the Metropolitan Council. The grant was made on behalf of a consortium of regional partners. For more information about the Sustainable Communities project, visit their website or contact Project Manager, Allison Bell (651.602.1363).

Living Cities Integration Initiative

The goals of the Living Cities program are to:

• Improve the lives of low-income people in significant, measurable ways • Create a new framework for solving complex problems • Challenge obsolete conventional wisdom • Drive the private market to work on behalf of low-income people • Create a new normal

Living Cities is a collaborative of 22 of the world’s largest foundations and financial institutions. The local lead agency is the St. Paul Foundation. To support the Living Cities program, the Twin Cities received $2.77M in grants; $10M in commercial loans; and up to $3M in Program Related Investments that are flexible, low-cost loans. For more information about the program, contact Living Cities Project Manager Mary Kay Bailey (651.325.4234).

Southwest LRT Corridor Community Works

With funding support from the Living Cities Integration Initiative, ULI MN is providing Southwest LRT Corridor Community Works with key decision making tools to support a comprehensive corridor investment strategy that guides and interlinks land use and transit investment along the Southwest LRT Corridor. Learn more about the SW corridor here.

LOCUS / Smart Growth America

ULI MN is a partner with a network of real estate developers and investors to support adequate and sustainable transit capital and operating funds for the build out of our transit system.

Back to the Future

Back to the Future, a Powerpoint presentation from ULI MN/RCM and the Itasca Project, details the compelling reasons why it is more important than ever to link our transportation investments to our land use decisions. We encourage you to share the presentation and keep the discussion moving! Download the PDF file of the presentation here.

Resources & Reports

Center for Transit Oriented Development (CTOD) report provides methodology for assessing & boosting the walkability of a place (2009)

As part of an effort to promote walkable, transit-oriented places in the Twin Cities, CTOD has completed a study outlining an approach for transforming existing activity centers into walkable places. This study was done in partnership with ULI Minnesota and the ULI/Curtis Regional Infrastructure Project. Funding was provided by the McKnight Foundation. Read the full report here.

Public Private Partnerships (P3s)

CTLUS includes the understanding and opportunity of supporting P3s as a method of funding transportation infrastructure in Minnesota. P3′s are a long-term performance-based approach for procuring public infrastructure where the private sector assumes a major share of the responsibility in terms of risk and financing for the delivery and the performance of the infrastructure, from design and structural planning, to long-term maintenance. Below are some sources detailing P3s:

Shifting Suburbs: Reinventing Infrastructure for Compact Development

The ULI Infrastructure Initiative released a report, Shifting Suburbs: Reinventing Infrastructure for Compact Development. For compact development to work, developers and municipalities must determine how to plan, fund, and finance the often costly and complicated infrastructure, including transit investments, structured parking, intricate street grids, sidewalks, lighting, and water, sewer, and other utility upgrades. Read the full report here.

TOD Workshops

ULI Minnesota along with many other partners, have co-sponsored a series of technical workshops on transit-oriented development (TOD). The purpose of these sessions is to strengthen the local implementation of transit-oriented districts along the existing and emerging LRT, BRT, and commuter lines throughout the Twin Cities region. Workshop summaries, as well as next steps and policy options emerging from the workshop are available below:

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)

The Federal Transit Administration describes BRT as “a flexible high performance rapid transit mode that combines a variety of physical, operating and system elements into a permanently integrated system with a quality image and unique identity.” On December 15, 2009, ULI Minnesota hosted a workshop to discuss the technology and the plans for it and development around it in the Twin Cities. Some BRT resources are available below:

News

Jay Lindgren appointed Chair of ULI Infrastructure Initiative Advisory Group

Jay Lindgren has accepted an appointment from ULI Chair Jeremy Newsum and CEO Patrick Phillips to serve as Chair of the ULI Infrastructure Initiative Advisory Group for 2011-2013. In addition to providing a forum for peer-exchange among the country’s top infrastructure experts and thinkers, the Advisory Group provides guidance on ULI’s overall infrastructure program directions and shares insights on trends and issues to inform ULI’s infrastructure work products. When fully formed, the Advisory Group will be made up of about 15 to 20 national and international infrastructure leaders and experts. Jay noted: “This is a great recognition of the infrastructure work we’ve done at ULI Minnesota. I’m excited to share our lessons with others nationally and internationally, and also to bring the Twin Cities best practices from around the globe.”

The challenges facing our communities simply cannot be adequately addressed by any one sector. Only through strong private/public partnerships can we see the kind of outcomes that truly make cities successful. ULI Minnesota provides multiple venues for cross-sector thinking and action.

Nate Garvis

Advisory committee members

View Advisory Committee

CTLUS Initiative Contacts

Caren Dewar Executive Director, 612.338.1332

Aubrey Albrecht Senior Director, 612.338.1332