SEPTA’s Transit Oriented Communities (TOC) Guidelines Win APA PA Award

SEPTA received the 2025 Annual Award for a Project, Program, or Practice from the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Planning Association for their Transit Oriented Communities Guidelines.

SEPTA needed a robust, scalable framework to guide transit-supportive development across a region with highly diverse contexts—from dense urban neighborhoods to suburban communities—in ways that can be flexible to local needs. The Transit Oriented Communities (TOC) Guidelines support SEPTA’s efforts to implement its Strategic Plan, SEPTA Forward, and align with the Authority’s vision of a Lifestyle Transit Network at the core of the Philadelphia region. The Guidelines also encourage equitable and sustainable community development around transit services, allowing more people to live and work near high-quality transit.

As a subconsultant to Huitt-Zollars, Nelson\Nygaard helped SEPTA adapt their Transit Supportive Community Development Statement into a comprehensive outward-facing guide for municipal and developer partners that identifies a clear path and standards for TOC implementation across the southeast Pennsylvania region. Nelson\Nygaard worked with SEPTA to define three overarching goals for the TOC Program and the complementary urban design, land use, site plan, and mobility strategies that can help achieve equitable outcomes. The Guidelines describe a typology of appropriate development both at stations and along high-frequency surface transit corridors.

A key component was defining SEPTA’s roles as partner, coordinator, and advocate to facilitate joint development, local zoning updates, and infrastructure improvements. The Guidelines represent a model for how regional transit agencies can proactively shape development patterns with municipalities, developers, and/or community organizations to support ridership, housing, and sustainability goals.