The Metro board of directors is expected to vote in January on whether to adopt guidelines that would overhaul its cumbersome and ineffective development process for the valuable land surrounding the region’s Metrorail stations.

That land could be used for office, retail and residential projects that would spur two-way and off-peak ridership in those areas, helping Metro’s ailing bottom line. But developers have been crippled by the transit agency’s “broken” process, according to a June report by the Joint Development Task Force, formed in 2006 by former Metro general manager Dan Tangherlini.