Mass. gives technical assistance grants for South Coast Rail planning

Written by jrood

Mass. Lt. Gov. Tim Murray said $320,000 in technical assistance grants is coming to 15 communities across Southeastern Massachusetts to help them plan for the growth associated with the South Coast Rail project, local media report. The funding announcement, the third round of these grants, comes about a year after the state released the South Coast Rail Economic Development and Land Use Corridor Plan, which estimated that commuter rail could generate about $500 million in new economic activity annually.

Also, Gov. Deval Patrick
signed an executive order directing state investments toward the priority
development and natural preservation areas identified in that plan.

"The Executive Order
is putting some real teeth into recognizing that this planning process was
something we want to make sure wasn’t just an exercise," Murray said.

The planned South Coast
Rail project would construct a commuter rail connection between Boston and
Taunton, New Bedford and Fall River.

The project could be
completed in 2016 or 2017, depending on which type of trains the state selects,
and will likely cost somewhere between $1.45 billion and $1.88 billion,
according to Kristina Egan, director of South Coast Rail for the state
Department of Transportation.

The technical assistance
grants are available to projects that will help local communities develop plans
to maximize the economic opportunities associated with the rail while also
preserving natural resources.

Communities that received
awards Thursday include New Bedford, Acushnet, Freetown, Rochester and
Lakeville.

In New Bedford, the
Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District will work with
the city to produce interim zoning ordinances for the districts surrounding the
two proposed stations – Whale’s Tooth and King’s Highway – until permanent
transit-oriented development zoning can be developed.

Freetown also received a
grant to develop zoning proposals for the area around the station, while
Lakeville and surrounding communities will work with SRPEDD and a consultant to
conduct a feasibility study on transfer-of-development-rights, or TDR.

TDR is a mechanism for
steering development toward some areas, such as downtowns, while protecting
open space in other locations.

SRPEDD will work with
Rochester to create an agricultural-enterprise-zone bylaw to help attract
agricultural businesses to the town.

Finally, in Acushnet,
SRPEDD will coordinate the conceptual planning for the Riverfront Bike Path
along the Acushnet River.

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