FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                        July 2, 2007

CITY TO HOLD CONFERENCE ON TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT

The City is inviting residents, landowners, developers, community organizations, and other interested groups to get on board Honolulu’s fixed guideway program with an introductory offer to attend the Transit-Oriented Development Conference on Saturday, July 14, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon, at Leeward Community College Theater.

Transit-oriented development (TOD) refers to well-designed projects that respond to the high ridership associated with rapid transit by creating vibrant centers of housing, services, and employment, and also reduce transportation costs for residents and workers.

Mayor Mufi Hannemann, who has championed the fixed guideway system since taking office in 2005, said, “With a new transit system, many opportunities will arise to improve our quality of life, particularly in those neighborhoods surrounding the transit stations.  With final planning underway for the transit system, we now need to prepare for its effects on our neighborhoods, not react to them.  I’m looking forward to a spirited exchange of ideas with all stakeholders on transit-oriented development, based on community input.”

            Conference topics include a presentation of the range of public benefits that good transit-oriented development can bring, Portland’s (Oregon) experience with TOD, and an outline of Honolulu’s TOD program.

“While we look forward to transit increasing our mobility choices, we also need to take advantage of the opportunity to shape our communities for the better.  As we embark on a major TOD planning effort, this process will enable us to learn more about transit-oriented development so that we get it right, from the beginning,” said Henry Eng, Director of the Department of Planning and Permitting.

The conference will feature two speakers with extensive TOD experience:

Marilee Utter, President, Citiventure Associates LLC.  Citiventure is a Denver-based real estate advisory and investment firm specializing in public-private transactions, and serves as a consultant or master developer for TOD projects.  Projects include leading the TOD efforts on T-Rex, the city’s rail system, and more than 25 sites in the Denver region; redevelopment of a distressed regional mall, Cinderella City, into a one-million-square-foot, mixed-use transit-oriented town center; and master planning for 65 acres in Denver’s Central Platte Valley, transforming an urban rail yard into the region’s premiere commercial, residential, and recreational district.

Debbie Bischoff, Senior Planner, Portland Bureau of Planning.  Bischoff has more than 20 years of diverse planning experience in Oregon and Florida.  She has been a project leader on various area and neighborhood planning projects that resulted in TOD centers and corridors.  One such project, the Hollywood and Sandy Plan, received an American Planning Association award for integrating land use and transportation at a light rail station community (2001) and a regional public involvement award for best program (2000).  Bischoff has been a project leader on transportation system and greenway plans and programs.  She also has experience in revisions to comprehensive plans and zoning codes.

Registration information is available by contacting Waynette Tamashiro of Pacific Rim Concepts, 429-3313 or PacificRimConceptsRegistrar@hawaiiantel.net.

            News media coverage of this event is welcome.

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Contact:

Henry Eng, 768-8000

Bill Brennan  527-6928