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TDRs or Transfer of Development Rights provide an economic incentive for preserving undeveloped land. TDRs create a market by which farmers, for example, can sell their development rights to someone wishing to develop in a receiving area for TDRs.
The Summer 1998 issue of the Planning Commissioners Journal includes two articles examining TDR programs. The feature article, by planner Rick Pruetz, provides an overview of TDR programs across the country. Based on his nationwide survey of 107 communities that have used TDRs, Pruetz identifies factors important to developing a successful program. Read excerpts from Putting Growth in its Place with Transfer of Development Rights; article can be ordered & downloaded online. Also in the Summer issue is a short Planning Law Primer article by attorney Peter Buchsbaum on TDRs.
"Pinelands Development Credits" (from the NJ Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan). One of the earliest, and most successful, uses of TDRs is to support land preservation in New Jersey's Pinelands. For more information on the development credits program, contact the NJ Pinelands Commission staff at: 609-894-9342.
Boulder County, Colorado's Transferrable Development Rights program, adopted as part of its Land Use Code, provides one of a number of tools used to preserve open space.
Montgomery County, Maryland, has an active TDR program designed to preserve farmland. The program (along with other preservation efforts) is described in the Washington Post article Montgomery's Line of Defense Against the Suburban Invasion, (March 25, 1997).
Transferable Development Rights: A Market Approach to Preserving Farmland and Open Space by Richard James, P. Eng., Richard James & Associates.
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