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On March 7th, 2009 the Board of Directors held a
special meeting at the Abingdon Library to review the new changes to the
Harford County Transferable Development Rights (TDR) program, learn from knowledgeable
sources what makes a good program work, and examine its potential role in a
future program.
The presenters and panel of the mini-seminar consisted of
Peg Niland, HLT Director, who has had extensive and successful use preserving
land with TDRs in Calvert County; Charles Day, Deer Creek Watershed Association
and co-author of a proposed revision of Harford’s program; Pat Barth, Friends
of Harford and expert on Maryland and nation-wide successful programs; Val
Twanmoh, Special Assistant to Senator Barbara Mikulski for Harford County and
an attorney with hearing examiner experience; and
Bob Ward, Ward Homes, representing the building industry.
What is a TDR Program? The
simple definition: Transferring the right to develop from a designated preservation
area to a more suitable location with infrastructure to support development.
Why is it so important to land preservation? TDRs can be thought of as a way to reduce or
eliminate of development in areas that a community wants to save and the
increase of development in areas that a community wants to grow. In a
traditional TDR program, the areas that the community wants to save are
designated as "sending areas" and the locations that the community
wants to grow are designated as "receiving areas.” Successful programs
have many benefits:
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Offers an incentive for preservation of prime
agricultural and forestry land.
•
Provides reimbursement to the landowner who voluntarily
agrees to place agricultural and forestry use covenants on the land.
•
Utilizes the free market system for financing
agricultural and forestry preservation, thus avoiding direct cost to the
taxpayers.
•
Guides development away from prime agricultural and
forestry lands on which viable farming and forestry endeavors are practical.
•
Promotes and preserves the identity of intact rural
agricultural communities where working farms and managed woodlands predominate,
•
Minimizes potential conflicts between agricultural and
non-agricultural land use by providing for a functional separation of the two.
What does a
successful TDR program look like? The criteria for successful programs, like those common to Montgomery and Calvert
Counties:
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TDRs make economic sense to developers.
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Elected officials were willing to adopt
significant downzoning of farmland to preserve agricultural land or maintain
the demand for TDRs.
•
Large or multiple receiver areas provide bonus
density for using TDRs that significantly exceeds base zoning density, and
there is a market demand for higher density.
•
The demand for TDRs was carefully balanced with
the total supply of TDRs.
•
County policy requires the use of TDRs for
increasing zoning density in receiving areas.
•
TDRs were combined with other land preservation
tools.
•
Permanent easements restrict TDR sending sites
for agricultural, forestry or open space.
•
The TDR program has broad public support.
How does a successful TDR program benefit the Landowner?
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Benefits: sell the “development rights" and retain
the “residual or farm value" of land, which usually includes the ability to
have a farm house and a few lots, depending on farm size.
•
The “development rights value”+ “the residual
value" can meet or exceed the market value of the land.
•
Selling a few TDRs at a time provides cash for repairs,
equipment, and operations while providing income tax savings.
From the Developer’s perspective:
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Lower
land cost per building unit
•
Lower
engineering, site development and infrastructure costs
•
Avoids
public scrutiny of density increase requests
•
Free
market makes for easy TDR acquisition -
[Note: This is where land trusts
come into the picture]
•
Promotes
positive public relations through partnership with farm and land conservation
communities. [Again, land trusts
must be involved for this benefit]
How Land Trusts benefit:
•
Easiest preservation tool to use
•
Not dependant on federal, state, or county funding
•
Can custom purchase from landowners to meet their
financial needs and tax consequences
•
Marked up resale price brings in more funding
resources for future land purchases
•
Establishes a cooperative relationship with
developers that often expands beyond the transaction
Unfortunately, our Harford
County plan meets few of
the essential criteria for a successful program. There were discussions about a provision that
would allow a qualified land trust to purchase, hold and then sell TDRs, which
resulted in a board resolution not to participate in the Harford County
Transferable Development Rights program as currently written. A copy is available upon request.
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