Agenda - Planning Commission - 12/03/2009

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Question 1: Does your community often receive applications for upzonings? TOR programs can work when developers want - to exceed many types of development restric- tions. But t6 minimize confusion, this paper focuses on changes in land-use regulations that allow increased residential density. Appli- cations for upzonings indicate developer de- mand to exceed the limitations imposed under current zoning. This demand is one of the two essential ingredients in_ a successful TOR pro- gram, as discussed in "What Makes Transfer of Development Rights Work?" If developers is a crude approximation of the acreage that could be preserved byyourTOR program annu- ally. If this seems like a meaningful amount of preservation, you should answer yes to Ques- tion 1. For example, let's assume that the zoning in your likely sending area requires five acres per dwelling unit and that you estimate that your community issues building permits for 20 -- dwelling units each year that are made possible by upzonings. Assuming one TOR is required for each of the 20 bonus units and assuming each TOR represents five acres of preserved land, are typically satisfied with the development potential available under current zoning, they will have no need to exceed that density limit if it ultimately becomes baseline density under a TOR program. NOTE: Some respondents may be able to answer Question 1 without much reflection because their communities experience either very few orvery many applications for upzon- ings. However, .for those who fall in the middle of those two extremes, we offer the following suggestion. Estimate the number of dwelling units built in a typical year made possible by upzonings. Assume, forthis exercise alone, that your program will grant one TOR for each dwelling unit precluded by easement in the s_ending-area and that each TOR will permit one bonus dwelling unit i'n the receiving area. Then multiply your estimated anl"!ual number of bo- nus units by the amount of sending area land needed per dwelling unit. The resulting number your hypothetical TDR program would preserve 100 acres of land per year. If a preservation rate ohoo acres per year seemsworth the effort of adopting a TDR program, you would answer yes to Question 1. Question 2: Does your community's current general plan indicate an adequate number of areas appropriate for future upzonings? If your general plan designates areas that are appropriate for upzoning, your community can readily make these areas into potential TOR re- ceiving areas. This can relieve you of the need to identify, discuss, and agree on individual receiving areas. The plan has already identified them. To use them, a provision is added ~o your zoning code that requires each unit resulting from a future upzoning to comply with TOR requirements, effectively making these plan- approved places into potential TOR receiving areas. These ready-made receiving areas also allow the community to incentivize the transfer of development rights without changing the maximum density setforth in the general plan. Specifically, a community can allow, if needed, more than one bonus dwelling unit in a receiv- ing area for each dwelling' unit precluded in a sending area without exceeding the general plan's development capacity. This enhanced transfer ratio improves the conditions for a viable TOR market by making the TOR price high enough to attract sending area landowners yet lowenough to motivate developers. Con- sequently,a yes response to this question is a positive indicator for two of the most important success factors identified in our JAPA article: receiving areas customized to the community and market incentives. NOTE: Some respondents may be able to answer Question 2 without extensive thought because their general plans either designate no areas or many areas as appropriate for future upzonings. However, for cQmmunities in the middle of this continuum, we offer the following suggestion: Consider whether the arEtas designated-in the general plan for future upzonings are capable of sustaining the bonus dwelling units that you consider necessary to achieve a meaningful rate of preservation. For example, let's continue the assump- tion that you want to preserve at least 100 acres per year and that this preservation rate will require the transfer of 20 TORs per year, which represent 20 dwelling units resulting from upzonings. Assume that you estimate that your general plan designates 1,000 acres appropriate for an upzoning from one unit per five acres to two units per acre. If developers want to maximize this potential, a total of 1,800 bonus units would result (1,000 x 2 = 2,000 minus a baseline of 1,000 divided by five, or 200, yields a maximum potential in- crease of 1,800 bonus units). However, you maywantto create a more conservative estimate by, for example, assum- ing that developers only want to upzone half of this area and that they only want to build at an average density of one unit per acre. These more conservative assumptions still yield a total of 400 bonus units (soo x 1 == 500 minus a baseline of 500 divided by five, or 100, yields a maximum potential increase of 400 bonus units). This 400 bonus-unit capacity should theoretically generate the required 20 bonus units per year for 20 years, allowing you to answer yes to Question 2. ZONING PRACTICE 9.09 AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION Ipage 5 99