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Today, the California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) approved a policy enabling the agency to provide up to 40 percent of station-area planning costs — not to exceed $200,000 — to local communities along the state’s proposed high-speed rail line.

The CHSRA funding can be used in addition to federal funding earmarked for station-area planning, including $4.5 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds.

The policy will help ensure that CHSRA and local entities follow central guiding principles so that development in within a half-mile radius of a station serves the local community while also encouraging high-speed rail travel. It will be local governments’ responsibility to focus growth and development guidelines in the area around the station to serve the needs of their communities. The authority oversees the construction and operation of the high-speed rail system.

The station locations under consideration as part of CHSRA’s environmental review process were selected, in part, for their ability to link the high-speed rail system with local and regional transit, airports, and commuter- and light-rail systems.