Policy and Conservation Tools:Tools 101

Jesse J. Richardson, Jr.Associate Professor

Urban Affairs & PlanningVirginia Tech

jessej@vt.edu

Lands for TomorrowFarmville, VAJune 29, 2011

Overview

• Pillars of Smart Growth• Tools that Discourage Development on Resource Lands• Tools that Encourage Development in Appropriate

Areas/Do both/Designing Development• But, aren’t rural areas “different”?• Conclusions

Two Pillars of Smart Growth

• Discourage development on resource lands• Encourage development in appropriate areas (the next

country over is the wrong answer)

“Pragmatic Balance” Needed

• Without a balance, land conservation “makes unavailable land that might otherwise have been suitable for new development, often driving up the cost of remaining raw land close to or inside existing communities”

• Development “leapfrogs protected lands to develop in formerly rural areas even farther from existing communities”

Without a Pragmatic Balance, Land Conservation:

• Fragments remaining rural areas• Degrades more watersheds• Requires more taxpayer expenditures on roads,

schools and other infrastructure• Creates more long distance driving with

attendant problems with traffic congestion and air emissions

Knapp, Gerrit-Jan and John Frece, “Smart Growth in Maryland: Looking Forward and Looking Back”, 43 Idaho Law Review 445 (2007).

Tools That Discourage Development on Resource Lands

• Use-Value Assessment• Agricultural and Forestal Districts• Purchase of Development Rights/Conservation

Easements• Right to farm/forest

Use-Value Assessment

• Local option• For real estate tax purposes, assess land at its

value in present use v. “highest and best use”• 4 categories: open space, agricultural, forestal,

horticultural• Rollback tax• Landowners say important (for profitability) but

studies show it delays, does not prevent, development

Agricultural and Forestal Districts

• Local option• One or more landowners can form- voluntary• 200 acre core required; noncontiguous parcels

within 1 mile of core allowed• 4-10 year agreements- landowner agrees not to

develop; gets use-value assessment, right to farm, procedural protections against eminent domain

• Withdrawal can be problematic • Interaction with conservation easements

Purchase of Development Rights/Conservation Easements• Generally perpetual, but code provides for term

easements (at least 5 years)• Federal and state income tax, estate tax benefits

for perpetual easements• Virginia requires that easements conform with

comprehensive plan, but do they?• Forever is a mighty long time• Do not stop development, just moves it around-

can be positive or negative

Right to Practice Forestry

Local ordinances:• may not prohibit or unreasonably limit silvicultural

activity, • may not impose a permit or fee requirement to engage in

such activity• must be "reasonable and necessary to protect the

health, safety and welfare" of the localities' residents, and

• may not "conflict with the purposes of promoting the growth, continuation and beneficial use of the Commonwealth's privately owned forest resources."

Accommodation and Design of Development

• Cluster development• Transfer of Development Rights• Planned Unit Developments• Urban Development Areas• Incentive Zoning• Impact fees

Cluster Development

• Group homes on one part of parcel• Remainder of parcel in open space-

maybe agriculture?• High growth counties must adopt cluster

ordinance applicable to a minimum of 40% of the unimproved land contained in residential and agricultural zoning district classifications

Virginia Code Ann. Section 15.2-2286.1

Transfer of Development Rights Program

• Receiving area• Sending area• Creating a market in development rights• Enabled in Virginia effective July 1, 2006• Very complex• No proffers- of right zoning• Frederick County, VA

Planned Unit Development

• Unified site design for a variety of housing types and densities

• Clustering of buildings• Common open space• Mix of building types and land uses in

which project planning and density calculation are performed for the entire development rather than on an individual lot basis

Urban Development Areas

• Land use and infrastructure coordination• New requirements mandating urban development areas

in the comprehensive plan certain circumstances

Urban Development Areas in Virginia

• Certain “high growth” cities, counties and towns must include UDAs in their comprehensive plan

• If population is less than 130,000: Residential development at minimum density of 4 SFR, 6 townhouses or 12 apartments/acre

• If population is 130,000 or more: 8/12/24

Urban Development Areas in Virginia

• Must be able to accommodate 10-20 years of projected growth

• Encourage development in UDAs

Virginia Code Ann. Section 15.2-2223.1

Incentive ZoningDensity Incentives

• Increasing densities in exchange for concessions from developers

Impact Fees

• Charge on new development to pay for the construction or expansion of off-site capital improvements that are necessitated by and benefit the new development

• Equity issues• Politically popular• Facilitate development and increase demand for housing - better infrastructure - lower taxes

Aren’t Rural Areas “Different”?

• We attempt to direct development to urban development areas, etc.

• However, demand for housing in rural areas will remain• Must accommodate that demand in a “rural friendly”

fashion• Must prioritize land to protect, land to develop• Use the tools we have discussed

• What is the goal?• NIMBY solutions will not work• Land conservation is not enough and may hurt• Must shape the form and location of development• Target the benefits• Semantics matter

Conclusions

The Day Before Armageddon…

Regardless of how many conservation easements we have or

how much downzoning we do…

There will be the same number of people, occupying the same

amount of land…

And the same amount of open space…

We are just determining the spatial arrangement of growth and open

space…

Are we making the right choices?