Thompsonville, a low to middle income neighborhood in Enfield, will be home to a new multi-modal transportation center that will link bus service to the region’s new commuter rail service.  Under this grant, Enfield will be taking part in three Sustainable Knowledge Corridor capacity building activities that illustrate how integrated planning can spur redevelopment and enhance the livability of an existing neighborhood without displacing current residents.  These activities are:

1. Market Analysis of Knowledge Corridor’s Bus Rapid Transit and Rail Corridors for Transit Oriented Development (TOD).  This market analysis will better define the realistic expectation of what level and type of development the New Britain/Hartford bus rapid transit and Hartford/Springfield rail investments can support, and to study how to implement land value recapture to protect affordability in existing neighborhoods.
2. Transit Enhancement Bus Study.  This study will include a Thompsonville neighborhood bus enhancement study to determine how to better link existing residents, many of whom are lower income and transit-dependent, to area jobs and the new commuter rail line.
3. Affordable Housing Code Development.  Enfield is one of the communities that will be utilizing grant funds to create new zoning regulations for Thompsonville Village, which will allow for mixed-use, mixed-income, compact development that includes affordable, workforce housing. 

Enfield’s goal is enhance Thompsonville as a place where people can live, work and play, and to promote individual and community mobility without dependence on the automobile.  The over $3.2 million in FTA funds awarded to develop the multi-modal transportation center, combined with these proposed planning efforts to create an environment where people can live affordably in close proximity to transit and jobs, will help meet regional goals to reduce vehicle miles traveled and their associated greenhouse gas emissions.