B. Why TOD/PED in Marin County?

The Case for TOD/PeD in Marin

Transit-oriented development (TOD) and pedestrian-oriented design (PeD) can provide numerous benefits to Marin including: safer streets, more pleasant walking areas, more vibrant downtowns, less school related traffic, healthier communities, and a more environmentally sustainable lifestyle. A TOD/PeD vision for Marin County can be achieved through broad implementation of multi-modal transportation improvements, gradual intensification of uses in existing downtown mixed-use areas, smaller activity nodes, and thoughtful integration of new uses into existing single-use commercial districts. These concepts are not new to Marin County. In fact, many are already being implemented in county communities, taking advantage of historically walkable development patterns around downtown cores and village centers. In some cases, communities are implementing improvements and development along existing transportation corridors and at existing commercial centers.

The following section builds the case for TOD and PeD in Marin through, first, an analysis of historic and existing conditions and trends in Marin, followed by a discussion of the manifold benefits of TOD and PeD and the challenges that may lay ahead in realizing these benefits in Marin’s unique context.