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The Genesee/Finger Lakes Regional Planning Council (G/FLRPC) is working on multiple projects to coordinate land use planning with transportation planning in its nine-county region near Rochester, New York. Two of their initiatives, "Optimizing Transportation Infrastructure through Effective Land Use" and "Preparing Village Main Streets for Planning," maximize benefits to local jurisdictions' economic development and natural resource protection efforts.

The "Optimizing Transportation Infrastructure" project analyzes the relationship between land use regulations and public transit access and use. Often, land use decisions assume that automobiles are the only major source of transportation. Executive Director David Zorn says, "Transportation-oriented community design should encourage folks to live and work as close to transit corridors as possible. Communities often may not consider putting high-density residential zoning districts and commercial districts on those corridors, which forces residential and commercial areas away from the infrastructure. If people don't live close by, then they're probably not going to use public transportation."

G/FLRPC has also worked for two years on studying the results of state, county or local metropolitan transportation planning organization (MPO) decisions to redo village Main Streets, which are often state or federal routes. Zorn explains, "The roads that come through the villages might be high traffic roads, but they also serve as each village's center." The RPC facilitates dialogue between stakeholders to establish a plan that serves the best interests of each community.

"We assist the municipalities with identifying the elements they should consider in the land use planning process, such as public infrastructure, building façades and other Main Street improvements that would produce positive results when authorities decide to restructure roadways," Zorn continues. Two regional success stories have been Batavia and Geneva, which have fewer than 20,000 residents. These cities have successfully implemented economic growth plans while updating their Main Street corridors.

Re-orienting local jurisdictions' land use rules to promote transit, sidewalks and greenways rather than automobile transportation provides several benefits. Traffic congestion can be reduced, causing a smaller impact on regional water and air quality and using fewer non-renewable fuel resources. In addition, residents may experience positive health effects from increased walking and biking to their destinations. Zorn suggests that such planning efforts have "the overall benefit of developing in the most effective and efficient manner. You can actually target transportation to existing or proposed development. For example, if you want to bring in certain types of industry, you have to make sure they have a rail spur, are close by an airport and have good road access."

G/FLRPC uses a variety of funding sources to complete its transportation/land use projects. Much of the work is funded by the Genesee Transportation Council (the local MPO) through its unified planning work program. The RPC also uses local municipal, state and federal funding sources.

Zorn says, "In doing land use and transportation planning, it is important to analyze whether roads and other transit modes are going in places that are the least likely to affect the natural environment, such as wetlands, streams and prime agricultural soils. We also need to consider whether the transportation is serving the land use, or if the land use is serving transportation. Whether we continue to build in support of new land development or infill development is a real transportation/land use connection."

Genesee/Finger Lakes Regional Planning Council 50 W. Main St, Ste 8107 Rochester, NY 14614 Tel: 585.454.0190 Fax: 585.454.0191 http://www.gflrpc.org