Proposed New Transit Oriented Development Initiative

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Omaha’s City Planning Department has been working on Transit Oriented Development (TOD) for the past couple of years preparing its rollout with Omaha’s new ORBT Bus line. The goals of TOD are to increase density along the bus route, encourage mixed use development, and provide quality building design that promotes a pedestrian friendly environment. The ORBT bus line will run from 12th and Dodge to Westroads Mall, east and west. So why does this affect Dundee? The focus of this project is around areas closest to the ORBT stops and there will be a stop on 49th and Dodge. Therefore the 49th and Dodge bus stop is a “TOD Node” and, if approved by City Council, the surrounding neighborhood will be designated a TOD land use area on the future land use map of the Master Plan, clearly defining where TOD policy will be implemented. 

What we are essentially talking about here is zoning code changes. The policy focuses mainly on new “opt in” zoning codes. As stated on the Planning Departments TOD website, “as development and redevelopment occur within the TOD land use area it will be encouraged to follow newly adopted policies and proceed through a rezoning process which includes public hearings at Planning Board and City Council, and thus property owners will ‘opt-in’ to the newly established TOD zoning.” Ultimately, rezoning would become a much simpler process in these areas surrounding the ORBT stations.

We reviewed the TOD subdistricts extensively in our June Newsletter that can be found at the bottom of this page, but briefly, the TOD subdistricts are as follows:

  • TOD-2-MUR - allows redevelopment up to five stories tall

  • TOD-3-MNR - allows redevelopment up to four stories tall

  • TOD-4-SFA - allows for accessory dwelling units and redevelopment up to 3 stories tall for townhomes, duplexes, and single family spaces.

As a board, we have let the City Planning Department know that we think that Dundee’s TOD Node aligns most with the TOD-4-SFA designation, however much of the eastern side of Dundee has been designated TOD-3-MNR (orange/gold areas on TOD Subdistrict Land Use Map). Why is this? The Planning Department referenced the current zoning patterns to help decide new TOD zoning code designations. When looking at the current map, it does reflect higher zoning codes, however the physical form of the neighborhood does not reflect this. The higher zoning codes are a reflection of weird zoning changes that occurred in the 80’s. What is currently happening today is that neighbors are renovating their homes using sweat equity and down zoning their properties. 

We are willing to compromise the few areas on the map, but the residential areas within Dundee need to remain TOD-4-SFA as they exist today to preserve our historic neighborhood. The preservation of Dundee Elementary is also at stake with these new zoning codes and we can not compromise our wonderful school. Dundee Elementary is the heart of this neighborhood and we need to ensure economically diverse spaces for families to keep our school standing for another hundred years.

The DMPA is also concerned that allowing much of Dundee to become four stories tall under TOD-3-MNR designation would make it a developer’s playground. The new developments would look nothing like affordable housing. Take the recently approved 49th and Davenport Development: A single family home was purchased by a developer for $126,000 (affordable) and will be demolished and replaced with studio and one bedroom apartments costing around $1500 per month (unaffordable).

A thought that has been shared by board member Molly Romero is, “Rather than meeting a need with public transportation, the city is trying to engineer a convenience. To try to attract 25,000 riders a day to the ORBT system (the number needed to make it ‘profitable’), the city will destroy Dundee, one of its prized gems of a neighborhood.” Ultimately, we do not want the character and charm of our wonderful neighborhood destroyed over a bus stop. 

The City Planning Department is in the stage of allowing public comments in regards to the proposed TOD Zoning Initiative. The comment period will be open until June 28th and will be introduced to City Council on August 25th. We have posted the link on our Facebook page but we realize that many people don’t have Facebook so we will place the link here as well:

https://urbanplanning.cityofomaha.org/long-range-planning/58-long-range/transportation-planning/106-transit-oriented-development

Take a moment to fill out the comment form to let the City Planners and City Council know that the preservation of our neighborhood is our top priority. The comment form looks very intimidating, it's well over 25 pages in length and requires many comments. Please give yourself time to review the content and formulate well thought out responses.

We posted a video on YouTube explaining the DMPA’s position more thoroughly. You can watch that video HERE. The issue has evolved since that video was recorded; we heard more from neighbors and adjusted our request. We have asked planners to scale back the TOD-3-MNR zoning to Capitol Ave from 48th to 50th and Dodge Street from 51st to 52nd. The remainder of Dundee we would like to be designated TOD-4-SFA. We’ve request NO TOD-2-MUR within our historic boundaries.

We held a Facebook Live Event on June 11th and you can watch that video HERE.

For a more in depth review of what the new codes that are referenced on the above map mean, please read more in our June Newsletter Here. If you have questions, you can text or email me: 402-871-4620 or sara@secretpenguin.com.