Station Area Profiles

Residents and community leaders across the region have come to realize St. Louis needs a more balanced approach to development: one that slows but does not stop outward expansion, while redirecting growth to more urbanized areas that have the capacity and existing infrastructure to support it.  Focusing new development around transit stations will be a key element in fostering this more sustainable future.

Metro’s Role in the Regional Planning Effort
As one of 11 stakeholder agencies partnering with East-West Gateway Council of Governments (EWGCOG) on the development of a Regional Plan for Sustainable Development (RPSD), Metro is playing a key role in helping stakeholder communities craft strategies for encouraging Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) around its MetroLink Stations. One of the end results of this regional planning effort will be a TOD study of the entire MetroLink system, so Metro definitely has a stake in the outcome. We are providing a portion of the local match for this grant-funded initiative in the form or research and staffing support. As part of our contribution, Metro staff members preformed an analysis of all 37 existing MetroLink stations during 2011, and compiled detailed Station Area Profiles drawing together helpful information about the usage of each station and the character of surrounding neighborhoods. We looked at things like:

• Existing land use and building types;
• Demographic and employment data;
• Unused or under-used properties that may offer development opportunities;
• Existing barriers – physical barriers, policy barriers or legal barriers like zoning laws – that might discourage good TOD within a half mile of the station; and
• Existing community planning efforts in the station vicinity.

Taken as a whole, these profiles provide a comprehensive analysis of existing conditions around each station, and will serve as a baseline for future planning related to land use, development, and transportation infrastructure in close proximity to the stations. Moving forward, Bi-State Development Agency/Metro will also seek opportunities to use its own real estate and other tools to catalyze actual development projects, hopefully providing successful local models of TOD.  

Providing the Foundation for More Detailed TOD Plans
The Station Area Profiles will serve as the foundation for an in-depth market demand study of the existing MetroLink alignment being conducted as part of the RPSD. The findings from that study will feed directly into the more comprehensive TOD Framework Plan and the subsequent TOD Station Plans being developed by EWGCOG and the City of St. Louis for up to 10 of the individual stations. Learn more about Metro's transit-oriented development planning efforts.