As transit agencies and municipalities are facing financial stress and political pressures to expand transit, many jurisdictions are starting to use non-traditional funding methods like Land Value Capture to fund transit oriented investments. Land Value Capture is useful because it allows for the transit agency to tap into publically created land value increment. In particular, Development-Based Land Value Capture is favoured by many transit practitioners as a popular non-traditional funding source for its high revenue potentials, low financial and political risks, and low implementation costs. It can be facilitated through the direct transaction of properties whose values have been increased by public regulatory decisions or infrastructure investment. The main objective of this paper is for transit planners to gain a practical understanding for the benefits and challenges of using Development-Based Land Value Capture to fund transit oriented investments in the City of Toronto. Section 1 sets the context for Development-Based Land Value Capture by introducing the history and evolution of transit development and finance in Toronto. Section 2 describes what Development-Based Land Value Capture and Tax- or Fee-Based Land Value Capture are, while also outlining the rationale for using Land Value Capture. This section also highlights some of the enabling factors for successful Development-Based Land Value Capture implementation. Section 3 expands upon this discussion by providing an analysis of the Development-Based Land Value Capture implementation challenges surrounding the Eglinton Crosstown Light Rail Transit project (ECLRT) and Metrolinx's request for proposal (RFP) to sell the development rights at four station properties along the ECLRT corridor in Toronto. The main takeaway of this paper is that Development-Based Land Value Capture is a useful tool that transit planners can engage in to finance their transit-oriented investments. However, even the most basic forms of Development-Based Land Value Capture can be difficult to implement in practice. Based on a reading of this paper, transit planners should be able to anticipate some challenges that they may face in implementing Development-Based Land Value Capture in a city like Toronto. This paper should also open up the discussion amongst transit planners about Development-Based Land Value Capture implementation in Toronto
