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<br />
<br />California's Santa Monica Mountains provide beautiful
<br />seaside scenery but also pose serious problems of steep slopes,
<br />seismic and wildfire hazards, and the degradation of the very
<br />beauty that attracted buyers in the first place. Much of the
<br />platting took place early in the century. In 1979, the California
<br />Coastal Commission created a Transfer of Development Crer;1its
<br />(TDe) program for a 25-mile strip of coastline in Los Angeles
<br />County roughly five miles wide. The program constrains
<br />development based on criteria such as critical watershed and
<br />habitat areas, generally in the mountainous terrain. Property
<br />owners may voluntarily record deed restrictions on their
<br />properties and thereby designate them as "sending" sites, from
<br />which owners in "receiving" sites, generally in developed areas
<br />along the coast, may purchase credits equivalent to the feasible
<br />density of the seller's parcel. To date, more than 500 transfers
<br />have occurred. New subdivision approvals in the program area
<br />occur only in conjunction with the retirement of certain
<br />numbers ofTDCs in the sending areas.
<br />The TDR program operated by the Tahoe Regional Planning
<br />Agency (TRP A) is unique and particularly sophisticated. The
<br />agency itself is unique, the result of a Congressional act resulting
<br />from a bistate compact developed in 1969 in response to the
<br />growing problems threatening Lake Tahoe's water quality from
<br />uncontrolled development. Prior to the creation ofTRPA, which
<br />has direct land-use control over a five-county area in California
<br />and Nevada surrounding the lake, large tracts of mountainous
<br />terrain were subdivided for what were often vacation homes.
<br />Today most of those sites are deemed either un buildable or only
<br />marginally suitable because excess nutrient loading and
<br />groundwater contamination would despoil the lake. The TDR
<br />program aims both to slow growth to a manageable rate on
<br />acceptable sites and to retire those lots whose development would
<br />further degrade the lake's water quality.
<br />The program, eXplained in greater detail at TRPA's World
<br />Wide Web site, www.ceres.ca.govltrpa. includes four different
<br />types of credits, summarized by TRP A chief counsel Rachelle
<br />Nichole as sensitive parcels allocations, lot coverage,
<br />development rights, and residential bonus units. TRPA uses an
<br />Individual Parcel Evaluation System (IPES) to establish credits.
<br />The annual IPES update establishes a threshold, with those
<br />parcels above the threshold entitled to sell their credits in that
<br />year. Nichole says the system allocates percentages for lot
<br />coverage based on the nature of the parcel (for example,
<br />wetlands allow just one percent coverage). The bonus units help
<br />to retire the most vulnerable lands, such as stream environment
<br />zones or wetlands, by allowing owners to transfer three
<br />additional units as an extra incentive. TRPA allows no new
<br />subdivisions, according to Nichole, but owners of some large
<br />parcels may be able to acquire rights to build additional homes
<br />on their lots. Overall growth is phased with just 300 new
<br />
<br />Zoning N(ws is a monthi)' newslC'[[cr published by the American Planning Association.
<br />Subscrip,ions are available for S50 (U.S.) and S65 (foreign). Frank S. So. Executive Director;
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<br />Zoning N_ws is produced at APA. Jim Schwab. Editor; Chris Burke. Fay Dolnick. Michelle
<br />Gregory. San jay JeC'r~ Megan Lewis. Doug Marti.n. Marya Morris. Martin Roupe. Laura
<br />Thompson. Reporters; Cynthia Cheski. Assistant Editor; Lisa Banon, Design and Production.
<br />
<br />Copyrigh, @1997 by American Planning Association. 122 S. Michigan Ave.. Suite 1600.
<br />Chicago. IL 60603. The American Planning Associadon has headquaners offices at 1776
<br />MassachusettS Ave.. N.W.. Washington. DC 20036.
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<br />building permits issued yearly, with specific numbers allocated
<br />to individual TRPA communities.
<br />TRPA is now busy defending the entire system before the U.S.
<br />Supreme Court in Suitum v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agenry,
<br />with supportive amicus briefs filed by APA, the National Trust
<br />for Historic Preservation, and eight states, among other parties.
<br />Suitum's lot, though so.rrounded by three homes and an
<br />improved street, lies in a stream environment zone, allowing one
<br />percent (or 183 square feet) oftot coverage. However, she could
<br />transfer that 183 square feet plus one residential and three bonus
<br />units ifher parcel ranked high enough to win the right to sell one
<br />or more of the six development rights in her community allocated
<br />each year. Suitum refused to use the TDR program to redeem
<br />any value from the property, choosing instead to challenge the
<br />requirements as an unconstitutional taking in federal court.
<br />Both the trial court and the Ninth Circuit rejected that
<br />challenge as unripe, based on Suitum's failure to pursue an
<br />administrative remedy. The Pacific Legal Foundation then took
<br />up Suitum's cause and won a hearing before the Supreme Court
<br />on its appeal for a substantive ruling on her claim. The large
<br />number of amicus briefs reflects the apprehension within the
<br />planning community that the case could be used to invalidate
<br />TDR programs generally, although the precise issue at stake is
<br />the ripeness of Suitum's claim. A ruling that the case is ripe may
<br />amount to a ruling that the TDR program effectively
<br />constituted at least a temporary taking.
<br />Which way will the Supreme Court rule? Stay tuned.
<br />
<br />Call for
<br />Information
<br />
<br />. Zoning News is seeking information concerning rezoning notice
<br />practices by local jurisdictions, such as posting, certified mail,
<br />local newspaper publication, required area of notice, and other
<br />issues connected with public notification of proposed rezonings.
<br />This material will be used in a future issue of Zoning News
<br />covering this topic. Please send information to Fay Dolnick,
<br />Research Department, APA, 122 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 1600,
<br />Chicago, IL 60603-6107, or fax to her at 312-431-9985.
<br />
<br />ZOIV/HGRej2orts
<br />
<br />Smart States, Better
<br />Communities
<br />
<br />Constance E. Beaumont. lnfonnation Series, National Trust for
<br />Historic Preservation, 1785 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington,
<br />DC 20036. 1996. 408 pp. $30 plus $5 shipping and handling.
<br />Seeking better tools to preserve the history and heritage of
<br />your community? Historic preservation veteran Beaumont,
<br />with a few contributions by others, analyzes state policies on
<br />preservation and shares a series of case studies to show how
<br />communities can better achieve preservation goals and protect
<br />their unique character while bolstering the local economy.
<br />Land-use issues and zoning play no small part in this endeavor,
<br />although the book also examines policies on transportation,
<br />urban sprawl, and economic development to provide a well-
<br />integrated approach to the overall issue.
<br />
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