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RPA and Phillips Preiss Shapiro Associates, Inc. (PPSA) were asked by the City of Stamford to develop a new Comprehensive Master Plan to guide Stamford's growth through the year 2010. The Stamford Master Plan builds on principles such as center-based and transit-oriented development and emphasizes recycling large underutilized parcels near the city core and rediscovery of the waterfront (including the Mill River). The success of the study and its acceptance by the community can be attributed to a growing sense among citizens that traffic, land use, development and other planning considerations directly affect their quality of life. Throughout the process RPA and PPSA have been engaged with the community to ensure a groundswell of public support for the plan once it is completed.
• Stamford Master Plan Project Summary
• Master Plan (PDF 90.7 mb) |
In Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, RPA designed and implemented a planning and design process that brought together community-based organizations, citizens, government, and land owners to develop a plan for one of the most contentious and highly visible brownfield sights in the Hudson Valley. The centerpiece of this effort was two community design workshops in which more than 120 residents worked in groups of ten, co-facilitated by a planner and an urban designer or landscape architect. RPA compiled this work together in a consensus plan, which was the foundation for a subsequent workshop. This plan will be adopted as the official plan for community's Local Waterfront Plan. RPA is now working with community leaders and government officials to advance the implementation of the plan.
• Hastings-on-Hudson Project Summary
• Hastings-on-Hudson Report (PDF 32 mb) |
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Hope Township - Within 1/2 mile of each other is the historic center of Hope Village center and a clover leaf exit on Interstate Route 80, the location for future development. The question is what kind of development can add to a much-in-need tax base without destroying this gateway to a bucolic setting? To get at this problem, RPA is taking a two-pronged approach. As a complement to its larger Highlands initiative RPA is identifying significant open space resources in the Township using the Highlands resource assessment prepared by RPA, Rutgers University, and the USDA Forest service. At the same time, using a physical scale model of the town center and the cloverleaf, RPA is showing the Township what different kinds of future development may look like. The physical studies are coupled with an economic development study that will determine market feasibility for different kinds of development and the fiscal impacts on the overall township economy. The new master plan components will detail an open space preservation strategy, an economic development strategy and urban design guidelines. This will be a model for a host of places throughout the region facing similar challenges.
• Hope Township Report (PDF 1.7 mb)
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"Transfer of development rights agreements" (so-called TDRs), which can be used to compensate owners for the development potential of their open land, have emerged as a promising tool for controlling suburban sprawl.Transfer of development rights agreements are being implemented, in various ways, all across the country.However, there are many unanswered questions concerning the goals and consequences of these mechanisms; among them, how markets are created for transferred development rights and how higher densities in receiving areas can be accomplished. These issues were the focus of a conference, convened in 1998, that brought together land use professionals, developers and public officials who have designed and utilized these systems in the New York Metro area and elsewhere in the country.This final report summarizes the research and important lessons learned from this effort.
• Transfer of Development Rights for Balanced Development (PDF 400 kb) |
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