Moveable development rights in small jurisdictions

[Linden Smith]

Clark County Kentucky has a transferrable development rights program that is designed to direct residential growth from rural areas into the city limits. Does anyone out there know of other programs that:

1)employ the concept of portable development rights
2)use the program as a principle growth management tool
3)are being implemented in a small population juridiction

This is mostly being used now in big pop juridictions as a purchase program and cost big money. The problem for small rural areas is the difficulty of administering such a program. With a few good test cases, I think this will be one of the main tools, along with zoning, for future growth management in rural areas.

 

[Lee Nellis]

Fremont County, ID enables the voluntary transfer of development rights and three modest transfers have been made over the last 8 years. Being just one option for landowners it is not the county's principal strategy. I also know that Transferable Development Credits are used in rural areas in the New Jersey Pinelands. My experience is that rural jurisdictions often like the idea, but that the obstacle is not administration. The obstacle is having land prices high enough, and development pressure enough, to drive the system. You've usually lost what you might want to save before the market for TDRs exists.

 

[Linden Smith]

It is tough to hit the target the first time when trying to set up just how many credits are needed for different activities in different areas. I've not seen enough examples to judge how this can be regulated for low cast to high cost circumstances. Has anyone seen a resource site for this type of planning tool?

 

[Jerry Weitz]

There's a book out on 112 transferable development rights (TDR) case studies across the nation, written by Rick Pruetz in 1997. You can find it on planners' bookstore page (APA). He also updated the book with a supplement.