Transit-Oriented Development

Smart, sustainable development starts with policy decisions and a strong legal framework.  At the intersection of transportation policy and city planning sits transit-oriented development, extending a promise of more livable communities.  But this promise comes with a trade-off: it requires a major shift in planning philosophy and methodology, and therefore also in the legal framework that underpins local, regional and state planning.

Meyers Nave has advised on large and complex transit-oriented development (TOD) projects throughout California. Our TOD group is a cross-disciplinary team of public law attorneys who each have practical experience in one or more of the following legal disciplines.

• Redevelopment, real estate and housing expertise is often helpful in negotiating and documenting the complex agreements necessary to achieve moderate to high-density development that places housing, retail and employment opportunities close to public transit.
• Public-private partnership expertise enables us to facilitate such arrangements on behalf of public agencies. Public-private partnerships are a relatively new tool, which are well suited to large-scale projects such as TODs.
• Municipal finance expertise allows us to advise on financing tools that can be used to finance TODs or offer incentives that make them economically feasible.
• Land use expertise assures our clients that land use concerns will be addressed intelligently from the start of the project. We have superb experience in helping public agencies obtain land use approvals and comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
• Environmental expertise is helpful when our clients face environmental clean-up obstacles, such as contaminated property. We have a broad base on knowledge in areas like brownfields remediation, endangered species protection and water quality issues.