Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 12 · column 2 of 7 · from the scan, no model involved
TDR programs involve the transfer of development rights of an agricultural or a forestal area to a parcel to be subdivided. For example, the developer owning property in an area already planned for residential growth that is zoned for one dwelling per acre may wish to subdivide it at four dwellings per acre.
Thus the county might grant the higher density provided the develoi>er buys the development rights to a farm and transfers them to the proposed subdivision site.
The technique amounts to a voluntary trade-off between the developer and the county. If the developer wants the higher density, then he must ' uy development rights from a comity farmer.
Mr. Dennis said a Transferrable Development Rights (TDR) program is particularly attractive because it provides immediate benefits to the farmer, to the developer and to county governments and their citizens.
The farmer gets a substantial amount of money for the development rights; the developer gets to put four homes to an acre instead of one. And the county governments and their citizens benefit in several ways.
For one, the county indefinitely protects farmland from development at no cost to the taxpayers; the developer, not the county, buys the development rights, which sometimes equal up to 86 percent of the property’s true market value.
The program also helps concentrate development in prescribed areas by making them more attractive to developers and preserves valuable natural resources and a quality of life to which residents are accustomed.
However, barring General Assembly approval of a TDR program, county officials in the region should support more “creative” use of available land preservation methods, Mr. Dennis suggested in a recent interview at his Warrenton office.
For example, later this year Loudoun expects to adopt a program to encourage landowners to lease open space easements to the county in exchange for a tax break, according to Chief Planner Herd.
By putting an open space easement on his property, a landowner agrees not to develop the site. Under the Loudoun proposal, a landowner would lease the development rights to the county for five, eight or 16 years and accordingly would have the annual taxes on the property offset by 80, 86 or 90 percent.
As Mr. Herd explained it, the
85.2%