A bi-partisangroup of legislators from the House and Senate held a press conference at the Capitol Building this morning announcing a package of bills to use many of the state's economic development tools to encourage Transit-Oriented Development.  State Senator Jason Allen of Traverse City kicked off the event this morning by talking about the important value that mass transit has in a community's downtown development strategy.              More Photos>

 The package will offer incentives to create walkable, high-density communities, with mixed-use development concentrated around a transit hub.  The bills will expand many of Michigan's existing economic development tools, like Brownfields, Local Development Finance Authorities, Corridor Improvement Authorities and Downtown Development Authorities, among others, to identify transit and transit-oriented development as eligible projects under each program. 

State Representative Marie Donigan of Royal Oak cited the excellent return on investment that T.O.D. provides, returning at least $4 in private investment for each dollar spent. In addition to Sen. Allen and Rep. Donigan, State Senators Gilda Jacobs of Huntington Woods and Jud Gilbert of Port Huron and State Representative Wayne Schmidt of Traverse City joined in the announcement.  These legislators will be primary sponsors of a number of the bills in the package that will be introduced later this week. Stay tuned to the League website for more information and details as these bills move throught he process.

Chris Hackbarth is the transportation policy advisor for the Michigan Municipal League.  Chris can be reached at 517-908-0303 or by email.



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