By Joseph Morales
Downtown Harrison, NY is a part of the Town Of Harrison and has very strong connections to regional transportation routes. With 3 interstate highways nearby as well as being a 35-40 minute Metro-North ride from Manhattan, Downtown Harrison has the transportation connections to be a vibrant suburban downtown and be attractive to both visitors and residents alike. However, between the nearby Downtowns of Rye and Port Chester having some of the same services and then some as Downtown Harrison along with the cities of New Rochelle, White Plains and Stamford, CT all being with a 10-20 minute drive from Downtown Harrison, Harrison has felt the need to set itself apart from these areas. This task is made even more imperative by the fact that Harrison is the 326th most wealthy municipality in the U.S. and most residents have access to a car, so residents have many choices on where to spend their money. Thus, Harrison is now attempting to revitalize its Downtown primarily by increasing the variety of businesses, increasing the amount of residential presence Downtown and creating a stronger sense of place. While Transit-Oriented Development may support these goals to an extent, it may have some shortcomings.
For starters, transit-oriented development(TOD) is a community that is designed around public transit. This is done by maximizing the amount of residential, commercial and recreational spaces around public transit, making it possible to live in and access the area without a car. However, a TOD can include parking spaces in order to promote transit ridership among those in car-dependent areas by making it convenient for them to drive to a transit station. This may become particularly important in the suburbs of New York City when congestion pricing is implemented to drive into the Manhattan CBD(Manhattan below 60th St) since more people who would normally drive into Manhattan from the suburbs may opt to utilize commuter rail services to avoid paying congestion tolls.
Much of this transit-oriented development is already complete. In August 2021, the MTA opened a new parking garage adjacent to the Harrison Metro-North Railroad Station in Harrison, New York which is about a 35-40 min train ride and is about 23 miles north of New York City. The garage increased parking capacity by 80% at the station, which is critical for riders here as more than half of riders drive here from throughout the Town of Harrison. 475 of the 598 sports are reserved for Metro-North riders, In addition, the garage includes space for car-share vehicles like ZipCar, bicycle parking and electric vehicle(EV) charging stations. In addition, the space includes 83 residential units, retail space and a public plaza. The garage has two elevators and two staircases with direct access to the platforms for the convenience of riders. This final phase of this project will add 60 residential units with parking for prospective tenants and a public plaza that will include a plethora of retail and commercial space that connects the Harrison Station Overpass to Halstead Avenue which is the main business street in Harrison. This has all been constructed by the developer Avalon Bay Communities, which built the development and parking garage at no cost to the Town Of Harrison, Westchester County Government or MTA.
Outside of the transit-oriented development itself, The Town of Harrison also plans to build a town green where Ma Riis Park is currently located just outside of the northern entrance to the train station. This would improve pedestrian connections to key facilities such as the Harrison Public Library, Town Hall as well as the rest of the downtown area. In addition, accessibility improvements will be made and there will be vehicular access for motorists on all four sides. The idea is that town greens have been major civic centers throughout New England and that a town green could provide the same for Harrison. The town also plans to improve pedestrian conditions along Halsted and Harrison Avenues near the train station through the installation of new paving, lighting, crosswalks and more.
Ma Riis Park is the park that Harrison plans to revamp into its town green as shown above.
One possible downside to the development could be the lack of affordable housing. Initially, the plan was to not include any affordable housing in the project until fair housing activists called for affordable housing to be included in the development in July 2015. Eventually 5% of units or seven total units of the 143 in the residential developments were designated as affordable housing. According to westchestergov.com, the rents for these seven units are still either $1,251 or $1,490 which is still a high rate. The Town of Harrison stated in their DRI(Downtown Revitalization Initiative) application that the residents are “expected to be working professionals that will be seeking to live in a transit village”, indicating the town has the desire to attract those making close to, if not market rate. Nonetheless, the Town Of Harrison and Westchester County may want to consider how they can make transit-oriented developments more affordable as more of them appear throughout the New York Metro Region.
Even if housing was considered more affordable, affordable public transportation overall is scarce. Service on the Metro-North New Haven Line the development is located off of is infrequent and expensive. A one-way ticket from Harrison to Grand Central is $12.75 during peak hours. A peak ticket to Stamford costs $5.00. If someone’s destination is not located along the train line, Bee-Line service in Westchester County is notoriously infrequent and unreliable. Even with the Westchester County Mobility and Transit Plan on the horizon, Harrison is not located in a microstransit zone and riders here will have to continue contending with fixed-route Bee-Line bus services. While one of Harrison’s goals with its downtown revitalization is to “create a downtown that attracts people and businesses, instead of cars and traffic” according to its DRI application. However,this may be what happens without improved surface transit services, whether it be fixed-route buses, micro transit or more frequent Metro-North service.
While the development may help Harrison with attracting people and businesses it may still create cars and traffic due to the lack of transit options in the area besides a single, infrequent rail service. In addition, should Downtown Harrison attract more visitors, most will probably drive due to the fact that most Westchester and Fairfield County, CT residents own cars and can access Downtown Harrison easily via the MNR parking lot, especially given the infrequency and unreliability of local bus service.
With many initiatives centered around transit and pedestrian access, the Town Of Harrison is preparing to take steps that it believes will set it apart from other suburban downtowns throughout the region.
Acknowledgements
Surico, John. “From Transit Agency to Transit-Oriented Developer.” Bloomberg.com, 21 August 2019, Accessed 17 September 2022
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-21/from-transit-agency-to-transit-oriented-developer. Accessed 17 September 2022.
Town Of Harrison. “Harrison Central Business District Revitalization.” ny.gov, 2017,
Accessed 17 September 2022
https://www.ny.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/Harrison.pdf. Accessed 17 September 2022.
“Harrison Says “Hello” to Transit-Oriented Development.” MTA, 1 October 2021, https://new.mta.info/node/16676. Accessed 17 September 2022.
Transit Central 