Transfer of Development Rights

Beyond Takings and Givings provides a step-by-step guide to creating a Transfer of Development Rights program and addresses the most commonly asked questions on this topic. It explains density transfer charges, a tool that reduces the seemingly complex TDR mechanism to a single requirement, and places TDR within the context of the ongoing property rights debate

This four page fact sheet provides a description of transfer development rights, a brief history of TDR and discusses the purposes, benefits and drawbacks of TDRs. It includes acreage statistics from local governments with TDR programs for farmland.

The Farmland Information Center, a partnership between the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and American Farmland Trust, is a clearinghouse for information about farmland protection and stewardship. The information on this web page includes resources on the use of transfer of development rights for use in agriculture and rural conservation work.

This page includes information on what TDRs are and how they work, issues in creating a successful TDR program, case studies, and more.

The inequalities in conventional zoning-based policies leave urban-fringe jurisdictions unable to meet the growing demand for permanently preserved open space. Allocating marketable development rights (MDR) among all landowners treats this problem directly. It also leaves open the option of allowing the market to allocate land to undeveloped uses. A simple market model is used to develop a framework that describes the mechanics of such a program; it allows for comparison with other commonly considered policies. Several concerns policy makers have raised about a market in development rights are addressed. Alternative regulatory responses to perceived market failures are presented. It is suggested that and MDR program offers significant advantages over existing preservation efforts.

Transfer of development rights, or TDR, allows increased development in places where a community wants more growth in return for reduced development in places where a community wants less growth. The concept is simple, but can be hard to adopt unless taken step-by-step. This piece is a brief TDR primer.

The 2002 edition of Purchase of Development Rights: Conserving Lands, Preserving Western Livelihoods is a cooperative project of the Trust for Public Land, Western Governor's Association, National Cattlemen's Beef Assn, and many other organizations and individuals. This 32 page publication discusses how PDR is helping landowners achieve personal and financial goals, describes how PDR programs work and envisions PDR succeeding in multiple communities.

Transfer of development rights offers communities a way of saving environmentally sensitive areas, farmlands, historic landmarks, and other important resources. A look at how transfer of development rights programs work, and what makes some more successful than others.

This paper reviews the TDR concept and those factors typically found in the most successful TDR programs. It then summarizes the current status of some classic TDR programs and describes some innovations developed by recently discovered TDR programs. Some of these innovations were designed to improve the effectiveness of the TDR program after adoption and some were intended to facilitate adoption itself.

This Toolkit provides easy access to information on planning, zoning, subdivision, site design, and building construction techniques that can make smart growth and smart energy a reality in your community. The materials are designed to increase understanding of smart growth/smart energy tools and policies, as well as how to customize and apply the techniques to suit local circumstances.

In 1998 the state of Georgia passed enabling legislation which authorizes local jurisdictions to implement transferable development rights (TDR) programs in their communities. This report offers an introduction to transferable development rights and presents a series of case studies of TDR programs around the United States. These experiences should be helpful to local governments in Georgia that are considering creating their own TDR programs.

This is a how-to guide for establishing TDR programs at the single- and multi-municipal level in Lancaster County. The handbook is derived from the successful establishment and administration of four single-municipal TDR programs. The handbook’s appendices include an extensive array of model ordinances, legal documents and forms for TDR programs, including a sample intermunicipal TDR agreement intended for use by two or more municipalities who wish to transfer TDRs across municipal boundaries.

An appealing 14-minute TDR video highlighting the successful TDR methods and approaches used by open space leaders in nearby Pennsylvania counties.

Presentation regarding Transfer of Development Rights and implementation of TDRs.

Transfer of Development Rights is a zoning technique that conserves land by redirecting development that would otherwise occur on the land (the sending area) to a receiving area suitable for denser development. The technique operates so that owners in the sending area can be compensated for their redirected development rights. (Print version of Conservationtools.org guide)

Manual which provides a basic understanding of transfer of development rights as a planning and resource protection tool. 84 pp., color and b/w plates.

This report is the first in a three-part, multi-year series focused on the potential for a Transfer of Development Rights Pilot Project in the greater Pittsburgh area. A Transfer of Development Rights program can assist the Pittsburgh region in addressing serious issues such as landslides, stormwater management and combined sewer overflows; which have arisen from inappropriate development and poor and aging infrastructure.These factors combined with our regional topography, geology and climate have created dangerous flash flooding, landslides, sewer overflows, and other concerns which necessitate leveraging as many tools as possible to help address them.The presence of vacant parcels throughout the city provides an opportunity, not a liability, to provide ample andappropriate green space locations while directing reinvestment where it is best supported.

This report relied heavily on conversations with local planners, consultants, land use attorneys, and officials at land trusts in the communities under study. The report includes detailed case studies of ten programs in four states. The studies focus on a range of land use goals, including farmland preservation, protection of environmentally sensitive lands and curtailing sprawl.

A paper presenting the an overview of the transfer of development rights tool, including a history of TDR programs, how they work, advantages and challenges of using them, how local governments can use them, and an analysis of whether they are a good governing tool.