The Maryland Daily Record reports today about issues related to transit-oriented development. Read from their coverage here:

Real estate developers say state and local funding for these types of projects is essential because of the high cost of building around public transportation sites and the requirement that the site include parking, which comprises the biggest chunk of the price. Most transit-oriented mixed-use projects feature below-ground parking or large parking decks, which are the most expensive types of parking structures to build, developers say.

Transit-oriented development is also fairly complicated because of the special building regulations around public transportation and the various approvals and studies that need to happen. All this has prevented developers from doing these kinds of projects without some public funding, even with the potential upside many advocates see.

“You’d think the developers would be fighting for the chance to develop around transit stations,” said Gerrit Knaap, executive director of the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education at the University of Maryland. “But if you do develop around these stations, land is odd-shaped, there’s lots of coordination, lots of players involved. The institutional obstacles are formidable.”

MACo has, in recent years, supported legislation to enable and empower the various partnerships and tax provisions that help to forward such projects.