Rethink College Park

We just heard the County is holding a meeting about Route 1 transportation on Wednesday, May 30th at 7:00 p.m. in City Hall. Here is the announcement:

SPECIAL MEETING
COLLEGE PARK ROUTE 1 CORRIDOR TRANSPORTATION STUDY

Come hear the consultant’s preliminary findings and recommendations on important issues related to new development along US Route 1. A final report will be available after comments from this meeting are considered. Topics that will be covered include:

• Transit and Shuttle Service
• Transportation Demand Management Strategies
• Transportation Adequacy under the Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance
• Parking Requirements and Policies
• Access Management
• Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities

WHEN: WEDNESDAY MAY 30, 2007
7:00 – 10:00 P.M.

WHERE: CITY OF COLLEGE PARK CITY HALL
2ND FLOOR COUNCIL CHAMBERS
4500 KNOX ROAD

SPONSORS: MARYLAND-NATIONAL CAPITAL PARK AND PLANNING COMMISSION & THE CITY OF COLLEGE PARK, FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL THE COLLEGE PARK PLANNING, DEPARTMENT AT 301-277-3445

We’ll be interested to hear especially about the topic of parking requirements. In our view, mandatory parking requirements for new buildings, especially on residential properties near campus and well served by public transportation, increase rents and encourage driving. The “transit-first” policies explored in San Francisco over the past three decades presents a menu of policy options to help reduce traffic and encourage use of public transit. Ithaca, New York is a good example of a college town that slashed parking requirements to deal with a student housing crunch. From the list of topics above, it sounds like some of this will be discussed at this meeting.

The photo above was created for a public education campaign in Munster, Germany. It shows the amount of space required to move 72 people on bikes, in cars, or on a bus. It was contained in this report about bicycling policies in that city.