Transfer of Development Rights Programs

Richard Register of Ecocity Builders has created a rendering of the de-urbanization of now sprawling Denver, CO. TDR could help achieve this end with the benefit of reducing vehicle miles traveled and thus, carbon emissions and restoring needed farmland.

When local governments want to encourage density and prevent or undo suburban sprawl, one of their most powerful tools for doing so may be transfer of development rights (TDR) programs. The loss of farmland to suburban development and the subsequent loss of forest to farmland is a big piece of the climate change problem. TDR programs have the potential to become a major part of the solution both by increasing density and thus, decreasing vehicle miles traveled per person, and by preventing said deforestation.

How TDRs work
At first, a region may be completely devoted to agriculture. However, over time, as a region’s farms face development pressure from a growing urban area, pressure to develop makes preserving such farmlands economically inferior to developing the land. When left to traditional zoning, market pressure often causes low-density development, aka suburban sprawl.

At this point, regional government leaders can decide to preserve their agricultural spaces. Under traditional zoning the only option would be to tell some farmers that they cannot sell their land for development. Instead the government can institute a TDR program. Farmers in a less dense corner of the county can sell their development rights to builders in an area designated for more density.

Benefits
TDR programs are very useful because they offer landowners a way to recapture some lost economic value when a property is down-zoned from residential use to agricultural use for preservation purposes. TDR programs do not replace zoning, but a well-constructed TDR program reduces the demand for zoning variances, since developers will use the market to secure additional development rights.

TDRs also offer a way to fund development that is beneficial to an entire region using free market forces. As regions begin to address their greenhouse gas emissions, TDRs can play a vital role in increasing density and decreasing per capita emissions from vehicle miles traveled in a region. Moreover, developers benefit from the certainty that TDR programs offer around zoning laws. Instead of incurring the costs and risks of negotiating for variances, developers can exceed certain zoning regulations simply by purchasing development rights from other property owners.

While zoning rules can change over time and with new administrations, TDR programs discontinue development rights forever so that public values such as open space and historic buildings can be restored and permanently protected.

The Process
While TDR programs hold a lot of promise for reducing the farmland lost to suburban development each year (and the subsequent loss of forest to create more farmland), TDR programs only work in conjunction with strong zoning ordinances and good comprehensive planning. Building political consensus on zoning issues is always a challenge, but vitally important.

The Challenges
Successful TDR programs start with strong comprehensive plans. TDR programs may be more complicated and expensive to implement than traditional zoning, as local governments must oversee deed restrictions, easement documents and other related documents. Since successful programs require community buy-in, local governments must market the program to citizens, real estate professionals, lawyers, assessors and planners.

As parts of the U.S. like Flint, Michigan begin to de-urbanize, local governments may see new opportunities to use TDR programs to fight deforestation and sprawl and thus, climate change. While this process may not be as swift as Joseph Conrad’s invading jungle, it has the potential to solve many of our largest problems simultaneously.

Source: Jason Hanly-Forde, George Homsy, Katherine Lieberknecht, Remington Stone, Cornell University