www.mass.gov/southcoastrail Governor Patrick Releases South Coast Rail Corridor Plan On August 5, Governor Deval Patrick, Lt. Governor Tim Murray, Secretary of Transportation James Aloisi and Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Gregory Bialecki released the South Coast Rail Economic Development and Land Use Corridor Plan in New Bedford. The Corridor Plan integrates economic development, transportation, housing and environmental planning for the region. It presents concept plans for 11 stations, the regional Corridor Map and new state policy commitments to help make these changes real. Congressmen Barney Frank and Jim McGovern joined Administration officials, mayors and elected officials from South Coast communities at the New Bedford Whaling Museum for the release of the report. The Corridor Plan contains good news: it predicts that commuter rail service to the South Coast will create between 3,500 and 3,800 new jobs by 2030, with two-thirds of them in the region. Investing in new transit improves access to jobs. New and more efficient transportation will link workers and firms within the region and to Boston. These opportunities will generate nearly half a billion dollars in new business sales annually and up to $160 million in new household income by the year 2030. Rail construction will also bring immediate growth to the region, generating between $1.4 and $1.8 billion in business and between 7,000 and 8,000 jobs. Creating great new neighborhoods at stations will enhance the region’s competiveness. The Corridor Plan envisions a mix of station types. Some will encourage walking and biking through downtowns and village centers, bringing new housing, stores and offices that will revitalize communities. Others will be regional stations, offering convenient highway access and longer term development potential. All of the stations have the potential to attract new investment, increasing local revenues and offering more variety in housing and lifestyle choices. Connecting Resources Transportation Secretary Jim Aloisi and Lt. Gov. Tim Murray (top); Gov. Deval Patrick and South Coast legislators; Congressman Barney Frank (left). The Corridor Plan is the product of intensive communitybased planning over the past 18 months. It developed from a collaborative working process and partnership between the Commonwealth, 31 corridor communities, three regional planning agencies, advocacy groups and the Southeastern Massachusetts Commuter Rail Task Force. The process included more than 100 public meetings and events that drew on the knowledge and insights of regional residents, businesses, planners and other organizations. The Corridor Continued on page 2. South Coast Rail August 2009 | Page 1 Map is a blueprint for places to protect and places to redevelop. It will be used to guide investments and local actions that will implement the recommendations from the Corridor Plan. How did the Corridor Map come together? Regional Planning Agencies (RPAs) first met with committees of citizens, business owners and elected and municipal officials in 31 communities to designate local priority protection areas and priority development areas (see the October 2008 SCR Fact Sheet for an example of the process). These local priorities were then screened for regional significance through meetings with regional stakeholders. The stakeholders identified the most critical lands for habitat and conservation for protection and designated the largest economic development opportunities. Housing and Economic Development Secretary Greg Bialecki partnered with Secretary Aloisi to develop the Corridor Plan. Next, state agencies that invest in infrastructure and land preservation reviewed the local and regional priorities, including sites that are most aligned with the state’s Sustainable Development Principles and state agency goals. The result is a Corridor Map with more than 30 Priority Development Areas and more than 70 Priority Protection areas. These distinctions will encourage development in downtowns and around train station areas while preserving environmental resources. Station Sites: New Places Planning for transit-oriented development, known as TOD, is already underway locally. Throughout the Corridor Plan process, EOT Freetown Selectman Jean Fox talked held workshops in about implementing the plan. communities that will host a station to gather comments and ideas on how these places should look and feel. Based on people’s suggestions, EOT created station concepts and station area development maps reflecting both local input and operating plans for the alternatives. Station area plans in the Corridor Plan recommend vehicle, pedestrian and bicycle access routes to the station and future development. The plans also assess the potential amount and types of future development within one mile and one-quarter mile (about a five minute walk) of each station area. The team chose station sites to serve potential riders, enhance local community master plans and benefit from trends that favor development near public transit. There are village stations, downtowns and sites that offer regional access and more parking. Implementing the Plan The benefits of the South Coast Rail project and the Corridor Plan can only be realized with a coordinated effort to prepare the region for redevelopment and preservation — at the local, regional and state levels. The Commonwealth recognizes its part in this process. The state has committed Continued on page 4. Greening Corridor Stations The Corridor Plan recommends greening the project’s station areas and parking. EOT plans to design environmentally friendly and energy efficient facilities. The project has a number of strategies for greening the stations in the corridor, such as: • Employing alternative energy in station areas and along the rail right-of-way. These include solar PV on platform canopies and over parking lots and structures and wind turbines where feasible. • Using low impact development (LID) techniques to minimize stormwater runoff in parking lots and finding ways to improve groundwater recharge. • Using recycled, reused and local materials for construction. • Encouraging municipalities to set green building standards in station areas and to seek Green Communities status throughout the community. The plan also outlines strategies for managing parking and encouraging people to walk and bike to stations or use local transit service. (See pages 65 to 71 of the plan for more details.) South Coast Rail August 2009 | Page 2 Environmental Methodology The South Coast region is home to vast stretches of valuable natural resources. Lakes, ponds, wetlands and swamps dot the area. Cities and historic sites, cranberry bogs, farms and forests – all are important to the economy and the quality of life. EOT is committed to delivering public transit to the South Coast while preserving this historic and natural beauty. The project team has devoted more than 18 months to identifying the potential environmental impacts of each rail and bus alternative and proposed station location. The Secretary of Environmental Affairs provided a scope of work for the state environmental documents, and the team has been working with the lead federal agency, the US Army Corps of Engineers, to meet federal standards. To comply with federal and state regulations, the team is analyzing each alternative’s impacts on 18 resources: noise and vibration levels; biodiversity; farmland soils; threatened and endangered species; water and air quality; wetlands; environmental justice communities; land use; traffic; open space; social and economic environment; and visual and aesthetic resources. The team first discussed the methodologies for analyzing these impacts with members of the Interagency Coordinating Group. The members represent state and federal agencies with a role in reviewing the project. The state’s scope of work requires some new analyses, such as estimating the effect of the project on global warming (by looking at greenhouse gas production). Because supporting smart growth is part of the project’s purpose, the group is also looking at how it factors into the environmental analysis. The analysis uses several types of information, depending on the type of resource. Impacts are identified by comparing the conditions without the proposed project (the NoBuild Alternative) in 2030 to conditions with the proposed project (in 2030) for each of the alternatives. The no-build conditions are based on the existing conditions mapping using Geography Information System (GIS) technology. The Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs provides a GIS technology service known as MassGIS. MassGIS is a complex database of geographic data for Massachusetts. Using MassGIS, the project team has access to detailed maps with various layers of natural resources. With these maps, supplemented by aerial photographs and on-the-ground field investigations, the project team has developed maps of natural resources and developed areas. For other resources, such as air quality, noise, vibration, and traffic, the No-Build condition is based on computer models of the future conditions without any of the South Coast Rail alternatives. These models have been developed by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Transit Administration and the Federal Highway Administration for evaluating the impacts of transportation projects. The project team has also developed conceptual design plans for each of the alternatives, which include: the conceptual grading plans for track; highway lanes and interchanges; stations and layover facilities; and electric power substations. These preliminary limits of work were overlain on the existing conditions mapping to determine the amount of wetland impacts, loss of natural habitats, impacts to properties, impacts to farmland soils, as well as impacts to historical and archaeological resources. The analysis also looks at the indirect impacts to these resources, such as loss of wetland function or loss of habitat connectivity. The conceptual operating plan for each alternative includes train or bus schedules, frequencies, speeds and ridership. These variables were used in the computer models to estimate the changes in future air quality, noise, vibration, and traffic associated with each alternative when compared to the No-Build condition in 2030. Once the impacts to natural and human resources are identified, the project team will examine ways that these impacts could be avoided or minimized and develop a range of measures that could be implemented to mitigate for unavoidable impacts. Next Steps EOT will provide all of the environmental technical memos to the Army Corps of Engineers and its consultant, who will prepare the draft environmental reports. The environmental analysis and impacts will be reported in the combined state and federal document to be released later this fall (the Draft Environmental Impact Report/Draft Environmental Impact Statement or DEIR/DEIS). Technical memos will also be made available on the South Coast Rail website, later this summer or in early fall. South Coast Rail August 2009 | Page 3 • Affordable Housing. Provide technical assistance to expand affordable housing opportunities and use the Corridor Plan to guide new housing development. • Transfer of Development Rights. Create a regional Congressman McGovern Transfer of Development addressing the gathering. Rights (TDR) program to steer growth away from sensitive sites in rural and suburban areas at risk for low-density residential sprawl and into areas appropriate for development, like village centers and downtowns. • Capture Value. Consider retaining a portion of the value created by the transportation investment to help fund the project by capturing new tax revenue from growth around the train stations. A Living Plan The Corridor Plan provides the framework for everyone to work together to promote regional growth that is sustainable and protects the natural beauty of the South Coast. The next 12 months will be important as the communities and the Commonwealth take first steps to implement this long-term vision. EOT will continue its civic engagement and public dialogue on station area plans and zoning, working with the communities, MBTA, developers and property owners to deliver on the promise of the Corridor Plan. Crowd gathers at the New Bedford Whaling Museum for the release of the South Coast Corridor Plan. to a series of policy changes to foster transit oriented development and preserve natural resources. State policies that will implement this vision include: • Stations and Station Areas. Create great places at the station areas by maximizing transit-oriented development (TOD) that builds new green neighborhoods with jobs and housing. • Strategic Investments. Use discretionary state funding flowing to municipalities to encourage zoning and land use changes that support sustainable development and the Corridor Plan. Pilot a “South Coast Investment Program” that links state investments to state goals and local performance in advancing those goals. Build on existing efforts to coordinate investments across agencies. • Lead by Example. Steer the state’s own direct investments in state infrastructure, buildings, and office leases to station areas and priority development areas, such as downtowns. For a copy of the South Coast Rail Corridor Plan, Executive Summary or Corridor Map, please visit the reference section of our project website, www.mass.gov/southcoastrail. Print copies are in each community Library. Contact Information If you would like more information about the project or to be added to the project distribution list for email and U.S. Mail notifications of meetings and other updates, please contact Kristina Egan, South Coast Rail Manager at EOT, by email at Kristina.Egan@eot.state.ma.us or phone at 617-973-7314. Project information and updates, including a schedule of upcoming meetings, are posted on the project website at www.mass.gov/southcoastrail. The Executive Office of Transportation and Public Works Ten Park Plaza, Room 4150 Boston, MA 02116 South Coast Rail August 2009 | Page 4