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CD+A is leading a multidisciplinary team in creating a Transit Village Plan for the City of Palmdale located in the Antelope Valley in northern Los Angeles County. The project is funded by a Caltrans grant administered through the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG). The Transit Village site incorporates approximately 100 acres to the south and west of the city’s new Multi-modal Transportation Center. The Center itself is scheduled to open in late 2004, and will include the region’s bus transfer facilities and a Metrolink commuter rail station that connects Palmdale with downtown Los Angeles.
CD+A approached the project with an understanding that transit-oriented development (TOD) provides a unique opportunity to strongly link land use with transit, and would be the first attempt to do so in Palmdale. Therefore stakeholders were introduced to the dual roles of a TOD that requires a sensitive balance between the function of the transit station as a “node” of transportation activity within a regional system, and the need for the Transit Village to be a local “place” within the context of an existing community. Additionally, the goals of the various stakeholders within the TOD process must be clearly delineated and balanced against the needs and goals of other stakeholders. Critical stakeholders include the transit operators (Metrolink and AVTA), developers, the City, and local businesses and neighbors, and community members.
The project began with a series of site assessments: land use and urban form, market conditions, infrastructure, transportation, and an initial relocation and redevelopment strategy for underutilized properties in the area. CD+A then conducted a two-day design charrette in Palmdale where an initial Transit Village scenario was developed and presented to both a working group comprised of City and Agency staff, and at an evening public workshop.
Currently CD+A is developing three preferred scenarios that respond to the current and forecasted market conditions – near-, mid- and long-term; and stakeholder feedback from the charrette. CD+A and their economic subconsultants are also in the process of developing an implementation plan that will serve as a guide for developing and financing the Transit Village plan for the next several years.
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