Equitable Transit Oriented Development

What's Happening Now?

We are seeking a consultant for our Equitable Transit Oriented Development (ETOD) Strategy and Implementation Plan to facilitate the Delridge ETOD Vision and Action Plan.

The ETOD Strategy and Implementation Plan will refine the City of Seattle’s approach to advancing community-driven outcomes in high-capacity transit station areas. By centering communities who are most impacted by investments in public infrastructure in the process—Black and Indigenous and people of color, immigrants and refugees, English language learners, LGBTQ people, youth, elders, and people living with disabilities—this approach attempts to address the root causes of displacement and enable self-determination through community led and owned development. An Equitable TOD Strategy and Implementation Plan is actionable and may include identifying opportunity sites and funding mechanisms for key locations.

For more information and how to apply, download this scope of work. Applications are due September 30, 2024 at 5:00 p.m.

Equitable Transit-Oriented Development (ETOD) is an opportunity to center community priorities and repair harm.

We know that institutional racism has and continues to create a painful legacy of public infrastructure projects that disproportionately impact low-income neighborhoods and communities of color. We’ve seen an increase in displacement pressures resulting from light rail investments in Rainier Valley. At the same time, we have seen neighborhood leaders reclaiming development to meet their needs and help their communities thrive in place.

ETOD centers communities as decision-makers in the planning process to support a vision for community led and owned development.

The City is leveraging a $1.75 million grant from the Federal Transportation Administration to support ETOD along the West Seattle Link Extension and the Ballard Link Extension corridors with implications for ETOD throughout the city. By centering communities who are most impacted by investments in public infrastructure in the process—Black, Indigenous, and people of color, immigrants and refugees, English language learners, LGBTQ people, youth, elders, and people living with disabilities—this approach attempts to address the root causes of displacement and deliver self-determination through community led and owned development. An ETOD Strategy and Implementation Plan is actionable and may include identifying opportunity sites and funding mechanisms for key locations.

In May of 2021, City staff recruited five core steering committee members to develop a framework and process for advancing the ETOD Strategy and Implementation Plan. They create a definition and vision for ETOD and a set of implementation and process values to continue guiding this work.

What ETOD can be:

1. Building community power through ownership and permanent stewardship of land, investing in organizing rooted in community vision and process and centered in systems change.
2. Starts with Land Ownership: Conversations about zoning, density, and transit supportive uses must be preceded by removing speculative pressures and banking land for community ownership early and at scale.
3. Holistic community benefits that include both rental and ownership housing that is affordable, but also incorporates other community identified uses such as childcare, cultural space, arts, healthy food, liveable wage jobs, healthcare, education, small businesses, open space and places to play, and more.
4. Results in mobility and access justice including fare affordability, universal design, connectivity and safety.
5. Promotes economic justice through the tools we develop to finance community projects, creating opportunities for community wealth building, and commercial ownership models.
6. A healthy environment that promotes a sense of belonging and includes strengthening mitigation and adaptation to climate change and community resiliency and health.

What is Equitable Transit-Oriented Development

We view Equitable Transit-Oriented Development (ETOD) as an opportunity to repair harm, build racial equity, and address community needs. ETOD means centering communities as decision-makers in the planning process to support a vision for community led and owned development in neighborhoods surrounding high-capacity transit. Equitable Transit-Oriented Development focuses on the process and outcomes of development, and might result in building affordable housing, child-care facilities, grocery stores, green spaces, or other types of development a community wants to see.

Our preliminary Core Steering Group of community members helped create the structure for this work and crafted a preliminary definition of ETOD below. The Community Advisory Group will refine this definition and make it their own.

• Community Power: Builds Community Power through community ownership and permanent stewardship of land, investing in community organizing, rooted in community vision and process, and centered in systems change.
• Starts with Land Ownership: Conversations about zoning, density, and transit supportive uses must be preceded by removing speculative pressures and banking land for community ownership early and at scale.
• Holistic Community Benefits: Includes both rental and ownership housing that is affordable, but also incorporates other community identified uses such as childcare, cultural space, arts, healthy food, good jobs, healthcare, education, small businesses, open space and places to play, etc.
• Results in Mobility and access justice including fare affordability, universal design, connectivity, safety.
• Promotes economic justice through the tools we develop to finance community projects, creating opportunities for community wealth building, and commercial ownership models.
• A healthy environment that promotes a sense of belonging and includes strengthening mitigation and adaptation to climate change and community resiliency and health.

What is the Community Advisory Group?

The Community Advisory Group (CAG) will consist of 10-20 community members that meet regularly to learn about ETOD and create an ETOD Strategy and Implementation Plan. This is an opportunity to shape how the City of Seattle approaches anti-displacement efforts through advancing community-driven outcomes in neighborhoods surrounding light rail stations.

The ETOD Strategy and Implementation Plan will be actionable and may include identifying policy and investment tools. The CAG is the main decision-making body and will be responsible for issue identification, making proposals, and directing supporting staff on research tasks and evaluating potential tools and strategies.

How much influence will the CAG have?
CAG members will lead the group and decide what strategies they want to explore. The CAG will also draft the ETOD Strategy and Implementation Plan which means deciding what strategies, tools, and priorities go into it. This Implementation Plan is intended to guide the City’s approach to anti-displacement work and development around new light rail stations. Putting the plan into action will likely require policy changes and additional funding that City staff and community advocates will push for. The City of Seattle is in the very early stages of ETOD and the CAG will play a major role in shaping what that looks like.

How does this work relate to the light rail expansion plans?
While this work is partially in response to the light rail expansion, we will not address station locations, construction, or environmental analysis regarding the actual light rail expansion. We know there is a pattern of displacement after high-speed transit or other services and amenities are introduced to a neighborhood. ETOD is about anti-displacement work through community led and owned development in the neighborhoods surrounding new light rail stations. With ETOD, neighborhood development includes affordable housing, but also holistic community benefits like child-care facilities, grocery stores, community gathering spaces, safe access to transit, and other community needs.

How often will the group meet, when, and where?
The group will meet twice a month for up to two hours each meeting. This will happen over the course of 18 months until a draft ETOD Strategy and Implementation Plan is created. The last six months may be less intensive as the group will work to refine and give feedback on the final ETOD strategy and implementation plan.

These will be mostly virtual meetings at a time the group agrees on (other community groups tend to meet in the afternoon). The group may modify the meeting schedule depending on their needs (some groups decide to take a month off during the summer or to reschedule around holidays).

Will participants be compensated?
Yes! Group members will be compensated $75/hour for their time and contributions. However, if you are participating as part of your job and billing that time to your employer, we cannot offer additional compensation.

What kind of accessibility and language accommodations are there?
The City of Seattle encourages everyone to participate in its programs and activities and will strive to provide language interpretation and disability accommodations upon request. After consulting with language service providers, we have been advised that the best practice is to provide accommodations on a case-by-case basis.

If you need materials translated, language interpreters, disability accommodations, materials in alternative formats, or for other accessibility information, please contact PCD_ETOD@seattle.gov or Giulia Pasciuto at Giulia.Pasciuto@seattle.gov or (206) 386-1598.

Can I participate if I work for a public (government) agency?
On our end, all are eligible to apply. However, your place of work might have different restrictions and you should consult with your employer beforehand. If you participate in the CAG as part of your job, then we cannot offer additional compensation.

Will there be any kind of training?
Yes, we have dedicated several months of the group’s work to learning! We view this as a leadership development opportunity and value lived experience (not just professional), so people who do not know much about ETOD are also encouraged to apply.

We will offer training on the history of institutionalized racism in planning and explore examples of ETOD and systems change work across the country. We will also provide background on the light rail expansion and the planning process. After gaining this foundation, the group will dive into deeper research on strategies they are interested in, followed by building an ETOD Strategy and Implementation Plan.

One and a half years feels like a small amount of time for this kind of work. How are you going to set communities up for success and for this work to lead to real change?
Yes, it is a small amount of time. We wanted to make the time-commitment feasible for participants and to not have a long time-commitment be a barrier to participation. We also wanted to make sure we could compensate people for contributing and are funding this work through a grant which limits how long we can fund participants for.

We view this as an early step in a long process that will evolve in different ways. The group will have a say in how this work should move forward and that might include more leadership development and capacity building in communities. Another strategy might be acquiring land and holding onto it until a community has the capacity to decide how they want to develop it. Having this foundational work and an Implementation Plan will also help us be eligible for more funding in the future to continue doing this work with paid community participation. We view this as an iterative, emergent, and evolving process.

Is this timeline separate from Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan update?
Yes, whatever strategies come out of this might be made as amendments to the Comprehensive Plan, they also might be in line with some of the equity goals in the Plan.

Is community land ownership about publicly owned lands?
Some of the strategies we will explore are for publicly owned land and how to transfer it into community hands, but most of it will focus on privately owned land. Examples of community owned land that we have seen in Seattle and other cities doing ETOD include community-based organizations owning affordable housing developments, community land trusts, and land banking where the priority is on acquiring land that can be later distributed out to communities.