Policy and Conservation Tools: Tools 101 Jesse J. Richardson, Jr. Associate Professor Urban Affairs...
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Transcript of Policy and Conservation Tools: Tools 101 Jesse J. Richardson, Jr. Associate Professor Urban Affairs...
![Page 1: Policy and Conservation Tools: Tools 101 Jesse J. Richardson, Jr. Associate Professor Urban Affairs & Planning Virginia Tech jessej@vt.edu Lands for Tomorrow.](https://reader034.fdocuments.in/reader034/viewer/2022051819/5517314255034603568b5dc0/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Policy and Conservation Tools:Tools 101
Jesse J. Richardson, Jr.Associate Professor
Urban Affairs & PlanningVirginia Tech
Lands for TomorrowFarmville, VAJune 29, 2011
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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
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Two Pillars of Smart Growth
• Discourage development on resource lands• Encourage development in appropriate areas (the next
country over is the wrong answer)
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“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”
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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).
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Tools That Discourage Development on Resource Lands
• Use-Value Assessment• Agricultural and Forestal Districts• Purchase of Development Rights/Conservation
Easements• Right to farm/forest
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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
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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
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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
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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."
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Accommodation and Design of Development
• Cluster development• Transfer of Development Rights• Planned Unit Developments• Urban Development Areas• Incentive Zoning• Impact fees
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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
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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
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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
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Urban Development Areas
• Land use and infrastructure coordination• New requirements mandating urban development areas
in the comprehensive plan certain circumstances
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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
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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
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Incentive ZoningDensity Incentives
• Increasing densities in exchange for concessions from developers
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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
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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
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• 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
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The Day Before Armageddon…
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Regardless of how many conservation easements we have or
how much downzoning we do…
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There will be the same number of people, occupying the same
amount of land…
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And the same amount of open space…
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We are just determining the spatial arrangement of growth and open
space…
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Are we making the right choices?