By Terry Oparka
C & G Staff Writer

TROY — Some of the state’s brightest minds got together to create snapshots of possibilities for a new transit center linking Troy and Birmingham to points near and far.

They shared those ideas with Troy and Birmingham city officials and others at the Troy Community Center Jan. 21.

The University of Michigan Design Charrette Team, now in its 10th year, has previously presented plans to redevelop downtown Detroit and other areas, plans that have been implemented at the Riverwalk, Eastern Market and Detroit Metro Airport.

“Charrette” literally means cart, coined by architecture students in Paris in the 19th century who would transport projects under consideration to judges on small carts.

This year, four teams comprising local design professionals, U-M faculty members, and student urban designers, architects, urban planners and landscape architects holed up at the Somerset Inn Jan. 18-21 to develop designs for the proposed Troy/Birmingham Transit Center district in Troy near Maple Road and Coolidge, along the existing Amtrak line.

“It’s an honor to be selected (by the charrette team),” said Michelle Hodges, president of the Troy Chamber of Commerce. “They have a great track record.”

Hodges said that the planned transit center would enhance the Troy and Birmingham tax base and could potentially increase property values by 40 to 200 percent, as documented in other urban areas. In one case — in Portland, Ore. — after installation of a tram line, a 20-year housing goal was achieved in seven years and 100 development projects worth more than $2.6 billion were completed.

The proposed site for the transit center is on what used to be the Ford Motor Tractor Plant in the Maple Road and Coolidge area. Grand Sakwa developed the property in 2000 as the Midtown Square Condominiums and the Midtown Square Shopping Center.

Grand Sakwa, by consent judgment, will allow the city of Troy to develop a transit center on the 3.5-acre parcel directly behind the retail center. However, if the property is not developed by 2010, control of the land reverts back to the developer.

Doug Kelbaugh, dean of the U-M Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, said that Troy is a premier example of a post-War suburban city model designed around larger spaces and automobile-oriented development, and Birmingham with its narrow streets, diverse uses and public spaces characterizes a typical pre-World War II pedestrian-oriented downtown.

“The difference is positive,” he said.

The proposed transit center designs differed on where the transit center would be constructed — along Maple Road just east of the rail line on land that would have to be acquired or farther south of Maple Road along the rail line on the consent judgment parcel, but all linked downtown Birmingham to Troy and featured light rail mixed with heavy rail, tram lines and bus lines. 

One scenario featured a tram line that would run on dedicated lanes on Maple Road to connect Birmingham and Troy.  A tunnel would connect the center to downtown Birmingham. The transit area in Troy would be developed to create a new downtown-like area, with businesses such as florists, bookstores and day care centers.

Another scenario featured a series of smaller hubs designed along the bus and rail systems throughout metro Detroit that would include places to rent bicycles and public showers to serve bicycle riders. The hubs would be located in downtown Birmingham, Automation Alley Industrial Park, the Troy Civic Center, Somerset Collection and the airport in Troy.

All plans included park-like areas surrounding the transit centers, with more greenways and bike paths to make the area a walkable center.

Kelbaugh cited a study that found that one walkable space in a metropolitan area could be supported by 200,000 to 300,000 residents. Southeast Michigan is home to 5.5 million people, but only has five regional-serving walkable places, all of which are historic downtowns. The transit center and the neighboring development suggest that the transit center district would be a natural location for one of these walkable places, Kelbaugh said.

Oakland County Commissioner Tim Burns said he was encouraged by the fact that Birmingham, Troy and Oakland County were working together to make a transit center happen. “We need this to be competitive, not just locally, but nationally and globally. Tremendous development has occurred in Portland, Ore., Salt Lake City, and Phoenix near transit centers.”

The 2008 charrette presentation is available online at www.tcaup.umich.edu/charrette.

You can reach Staff Writer Terry Oparka at toparka@candnews.com or at (586) 498-1054.