Carrollton, Texas, has received the 2009 Greater Dallas Planning Council Urban Design Dream Study Award for its Downtown Carrollton Transit Center Plan. 

  [This is another in our series of expert blogs on TOD, highlighting work and research that experts are doing in the field.  Today's post is by  Robert Cervero, from the University of California Transportation Center and UC Berkeley.] Many apartment projects near urban rail stations, critics charge, are “over-parked” – more parking is provided than needed. This can drive up the cost of housing, consume valuable land near transit, and impose environmental costs such as water pollution from enlarged impervious surfaces.

Part of the blame for oversupply of parking in TODs (transit-oriented developments) could be the reliance on parking generation figures from the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). ITE standards assume that car ownership levels and parking demands are no different in traditional suburban settings than in neighborhoods that are served by rail transit. Yet some studies suggest that those drawn to living near urban rail stops do so for…

  Transit-oriented development is valuable for transit, increasing the number of potential riders near stations. But what impact does situating a mixed-use, higher density project in a suburban setting have on nearby single-family neighborhoods? The Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State University sought to answer that question in its study, "Effect of Suburban Transit Oriented Developments on Residential Property Values." "The development of successful transit-oriented developments often encounters several barriers," the study notes. "These barriers include: a lack of inter-jurisdictional cooperation, auto-oriented design that favors park and ride lot over ridership-generating uses, and community opposition. The community opposition may be more vocal in suburban areas where residents of predominately single-family neighborhoods may feel that…