BART's 10 year TOD plan

Read the 10 year TOD work plan OUTLINE here

This is another 20-page outline of what will also presumably end up as a longer document.

This has a wider audience; it is a place for BART to be transparent about its goals for TOD and how it will work with all the relevant stakeholders -- including cities, private + non-profit developers, and community groups like North Berkeley Now!

BART’s Performance Targets: BART’s existing and in-the-pipeline development means they’re on track to meet their 2025 goals for commercial development, but not yet on track to meet goals for homes, particularly affordable homes. They need to add at least 774 homes, of which at least 610 need to be affordable. As BART Director Rebecca Saltzman pointed out, North Berkeley and Ashby are perfectly suited to help meet that goal!!

BART’s staff capacity: historically, BART staff has released one or zero developer solicitations each year. If they’re going to meet their goals AND follow up on the AB 2923 opportunity, they’ll need to release more like two developer solicitations per year. That means BART may need new staff. For Berkeley, we need to make sure BART and the city prioritize Berkeley’s stations.

Why BART should prioritize Berkeley: Section C, on how BART will “Prioritize Sites for TOD Projects”, includes several indications that BART should prioritize North Berkeley and Ashby stations for development:

• BART, the city, and community groups like us all agree that homes (not office buildings) are the priority at these stations

• Berkeley already has some policies in place to prevent and/or mitigate displacement

• Berkeley has funding it could dedicate to support high levels of affordable housing (and hopefully is also competitive for state and federal affordable housing sources)

• There’s strong local support (that’s us!)

BART’s Priority Sites: The final document will state BART’s priorities for developments in 1-2 years, 2-4 years, and 5-10 years. That means when BART will release a developer solicitation. North Berkeley Now! will ask that BART prioritize North Berkeley and Ashby stations as early as possible: hopefully to release a developer solicitation in 1-2 years. That fits with the MOU the city and BART have signed, as well as all the “Why BART should prioritize Berkeley” bullets above.