2010-252A (17) - Laserfiche WebLink

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To preserve agricultural land, the county also needs to take action. That can involve using planning tools available to the county including transfer of development rights, purchase of development rights, promotion of cluster development, use of the state's Rural Lands Stewardship Program, and allowance of small-scale accessory uses that support agricultural operations. Each of those options is discussed in more detail below. ➢ Transfer of Development Rights Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) is a tool that involves conveying the rights to develop from one property to another, typically involving the relocation of development from an area undesirable for development (e.g., agricultural land) to an area suited for development, such as residential or commercial designated land within the county's urban service area. Currently, the county allows for transfer of development rights internally within PD projects and transfer of development rights from historic and environmentally significant lands to PD projects. Agriculturally designated land is specifically excluded from being a receiving site for the transfer of development rights. Most recently, the TDR program was used with the Liberty Park PD. In that project, which was approved in 2008, development rights from land at various locations within the county were transferred to the Liberty Park project. One reason that the use of TDR's within the county has been limited is due to the lack of a developed market for them. Currently, developers have the burden of identifying potential sending sites and presenting them to the county for consideration as part of a PD rezoning process. If one or more sending sites are deemed suitable by the county, the sending sites are ultimately rezoned to PD zero density, and the receiving sites are rezoned to PD with the increased density from the sending site(s) added to the receiving site. The monetary benefit to the sending site is determined through private market negotiations between the owners of the sending site and the owners of the receiving site. Without an understanding of the TDR process and its benefits, owners of sending sites will not advertise the availability of development rights. As a result, the burden of identifying available development rights that can be transferred remains on the developer of potential receiving sites. For the use of TDRs to preserve open space and environmentally sensitive land to increase, overall benefits, processes, and procedures need to be understood by property owners of both potential sending sites and potential receiving sites. Consequently, clear guidelines regarding what types of properties qualify as sending sites need to be made available to the public and owners of sending sites. Owners of sending sites then have the burden of appropriately pricing the development rights so that they can be sold. Through TDR regulations, agricultural land can be preserved, while natural areas can be protected. In fact, the use of TDR's for agricultural preservation is specifically recommended by the Committee for a Sustainable Treasure Coast as a means to preserve active agricultural Future Land Use Element 110