Summary of the County-Wide
TOD Training Workshop held in
Rockland County November 19, 2009

Launch of Technical Assistance Initiative in
Rockland County

On Thursday, November 19, 2009, more than 100 people gathered for a full-day opening event and workshop marking the official launch of the technical assistance initiative: “Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) – Building Quality Communities around Transit.”  Participants in the workshop included officials representing Westchester County, and municipal leaders and officials representing the many villages, towns, and cities in the county.  Other participants included leaders and representatives of various organizations and local, regional, state and national public interest and government agencies. 

The Ceremony

Opening speakers included Salvatore Corallo, Commissioner of Planning and Public Transportation for Rockland County; Bonnie Devine of the New York State Department of State’s Office of Coastal, Local Government and Community Sustainability; Yvette Hinds, Deputy Director; and Michael P. Anderson, Project Director of the Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 Corridor Project.  Each spoke to the significance and relevance of the initiative to their respective areas of purview.

The Workshop

Representatives from the Project for Public Spaces, Regional Plan Association and Reconnecting America then facilitated a series of training sessions covering such topics as “TOD 101 – Building Quality Communities around Transit,” “Creating Great Places around Transit,” “Complete Streets and Context Sensitive Design to Create Transit and Pedestrian-Friendly Communities,” “Smart Parking” and “Land Use Controls/Regulations and Financing for Transit-Based Community Design.”  The workshop included a break-out session in which groups of 8-10 randomly seated attendees participated in a facilitated community assessment exercise.  The workshop concluded with an interactive discussion of the topics covered and key lessons learned.

The one-day event fulfilled New York State Department of State’s annual training requirement of planning board and zoning board of appeals members to receive land use training.  Additionally, the professional planners who participated in the workshop will be eligible to receive eight AICP (American Institute of Certified Planners) credits as a result of attending the workshop. 

More about the Program

The technical assistance program will continue through the summer of 2010, with more in-depth workshop sessions to review and apply conceptual topics covered in the opening workshop.  The eight two-day workshops will be based on conditions in Rockland and Westchester counties (four municipalities in Rockland – the villages of Airmont and Suffern, as well as the towns of Orangetown and Clarkstown – which were selected based on their formal expressions of interest provided during the summer of 2009). 

• Summary of Westchester TOD Workshop, November 16, 2009

 

Archived Meeting information and registration materials for the November 19, 2009 TOD Workshop:

• Rockland