It was a different kind of setting for a topic that, until recently, has been largely unknown in Georgia. Jurisdictions from around the state converged at Rico Cultural Center Nov. 9 to learn more about Transfer of Development Rights (TDR), in a workshop sponsored by Chattahoochee Hill Country Conservancy (CHCC).

The TDR process is designed to facilitate the preservation of an area’s rural landscape while promoting the sustainable development of livable communities. In Georgia, the only place implementing the TDR process is the new city of Chattahoochee Hill Country. The thrust of the day-long meeting was to provide education on TDRs and to show community leaders and planners how a TDR program could work in their communities.

According to the TDR plan, the right to develop a piece of property relies on “sending areas” and “receiving areas,” said CHCC Executive Director Christine McCauley. Sending areas are traditionally rural areas that are environmentally sensitive or culturally significant, those which the community deems worthy of protection. Receiving areas are those designated for commercial and residential development. So at its core, the TDR program is a method of shifting density from one area to another, McCauley said.

Though largely unknown to many representing the 27 jurisdictions and 18 state and regional organizations in attendance, McCauley said the TDR process provides a way for residents to benefit financially by selling the “development rights,” literally the “right” to develop a piece of property, to an interested buyer while still maintaining ownership of their land. At the end of the process, a developer can purchase those rights to increase density in an area designated for development.

The process for adopting a TDR ordinance, as described during the panel discussion, takes approximately four to six years, McCauley said. A number of communities around Georgia are in the educational phase of that process, and a few are further along in the process and are crafting ordinances. As far as we can tell, two communities in Georgia are very close to implementing a TDR ordinance, said McCauley.

McCauley said a TDR program is a win/win for a community as a whole. The current residents are allowed the option of protecting their rural character in exchange for payment, through selling TDRs, and the developers who are creating homes for new residents and businesses for all residents win because they are allowed to build the densities needed to make mixed-use developments work, by buying TDRs for the extra density.

The Keynote Speaker Nov. 9 was Rick Pruetz, a national expert on TDRs. Pruetz is currently consulting with a number of Georgia communities on the implementation of TDR programs in Georgia. Presenters and panelists included Steve Cover, Planning Commissioner of the city of Atlanta; Bill Dreyfoos, CHCC attorney and conservation easement expert; Laurie Fowler, UGA Odum School of Ecology and Law School; Shannon Kettering, Ecos Environmental Design; Michelle Macauley, Senior Planner for Fulton County's Dept. of Environment and Community Development; Dan Reuter, Land Use Division Chief of the Atlanta Regional Commission; and Jamie Baker Roskie, Managing Attorney of UGA Land Use Clinic. The TDR workshop was also sponsored by Atlanta Regional Commission and Georgia Planning Association.

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