Non-profit, neighborhood, and other community-based organizations can help integrate community concerns and create a balance of uses that support the neighborhood while still meeting local jurisdiction objectives. Strategies include:
- Utilize a community benefits agreement or similar tool to encourage employers to provide commuter tax benefits, transit subsidies, and/or parking cash out to incentivize employees to ride transit over commuting to work with a single-occupancy vehicle.
- Structure rents to favor small business ground-floor retail and offer local jurisdiction support such as returning sales tax revenue, waiving fees, streamlining the approval process, paying for tenant improvements, and/or providing land or other capital resources.
- Apply a portion of the development’s residual land value due to increased zoning toward items like capital neighborhood amenities such as parks, streetscape improvements, and community facilities.
- During the community engagement process, ensure that the language needs of local neighbors are adequately served by translations and interpretive services to facilitate broad participation.
Please review and apply the equitable community engagement principles in VTA’s Outreach Best Practices Plan. This guide can be requested from VTA’s Community Outreach and Public Engagement (COPE) team.
Body
