The policy will be designed by the planners at the Indianapolis DMD and upheld by the Metropolitan Development Commission (MDC): a commission that can grant exceptions to zoning laws.

We will email DMD’s PlannerOnCall(@indy.gov) inbox. Additionally, we will email our City-County Councilors to advocate that DMD improves the TOD policy and that the MDC reduces the number of variances granted to auto-oriented businesses.

Intent and design objectives

The intent of the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Secondary District is to coordinate more compact, walkable and urban development patterns with public investment in the transit system. These development patterns ensure that walking and biking are viable options for short trips and transit is a priority for longer trips. Development patterns and site designs that prioritize automobile travel undermine these public and private investments. This district follows the policies and principles of the Comprehensive Plan, the transit-oriented development strategic plans, and the Livability Principles in this code, and has the following specific design objectives:

1. Place a wide range of housing types within walking distance of commercial centers and transit stops or stations, and at a critical mass that supports these places.
2. Create connections through many different modes of transportation between neighborhoods and places for commercial services and employment.
3. Provide a concentration of many different and small-scale uses with a fine-grained pattern that integrates and transitions well with the neighborhoods they support.
4. Ensure human-scale design that prioritizes relationships of sites and buildings to the streetscapes.

Currently, the TOD zoning overlay only applies to Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) routes like the Red, Blue, and Purple Line. The Vision Zero action plan would extend this to all local bus routes: essentially the entire IndyGo network.

The Vision Zero Action Plan (VZAP) tasked DMD with updating the policy in the “short-medium term” (VZAP item Safe Roads 11.2). That would be less than three years from the Action Plan’s publishing in December of 2025. This gives us plenty of time to organize and push for a policy the strengthens transit in Indianapolis.

The longer DMD waits, the more gas stations, drive-thrus, car washes, and other transit-hostile developments are built near transit.

Improving the policy would help Indianapolis:

• Build more housing near bus routes people already use.
• Make more neighborhoods walkable and bikeable.
• Support small businesses and services near transit stops.
• Reduce dependence on cars for everyday trips.
• Make transit more useful by placing more people, jobs, and destinations near routes.
• Promote more equitable development, especially in neighborhoods that rely on regular bus service but are not near BRT lines.

Overall, improving and expanding the TOD policy would help Indianapolis grow in a way that better connects people to housing, jobs, schools, groceries, healthcare, and other daily needs without requiring every trip to be made by car.

1. Expand beyond BRT lines
   Right now, the overlay focuses on Bus Rapid Transit corridors. DMD is tasked with expanding TOD to include local bus routes so more neighborhoods benefit from walkable, transit-friendly development.
2. Expand Station Area Zoning Overlay Radius to 1/4 Mile
   Properties within 600ft of transit stations are currently subject to higher zoning standards. Increasing this threshold better protects the walkability of properties within the catchment area of pedestrians.
3. Strengthen pedestrian and bike standards
   The policy could require safer sidewalks, crossings, lighting, bike parking, and connections to transit stops, not just better building design.
4. Limit auto-oriented developments more firmly.
   Indianapolis could further restrict drive-throughs, gas stations (including setting clearer language around pump islands), surface parking lots, auto sales, and car washes near transit stops because those uses work against walkable development.
5. Track and publish annual progress
   Improving Indianapolis for transit riders will require ongoing effort and accountability. The city should publish yearly reports that measure key outcomes, including new housing units, affordable housing units, variances granted, parking built, sidewalk gaps closed, and auto-oriented uses approved.