HomeMy WebLinkAboutTransfer Development Square Footage presentationP&Z Commission Workshop
Transfer of Development
Square Footage
P&Z Commission Workshop
December 1, 2015
P&Z Commission Workshop
December 1, 2015
Agenda:
1.The Scoop on Transfer of Development Rights
•Concept of TDR
•History of TDR and who uses it
•Enablement of TDR
2.TDR vs. Transfer of Development Square Footage
(TDSF)
•What’s appropriate in Westlake
•Importance to the Town and Property Owners
3.How the Program will work in Westlake
4.Next Steps
P&Z Commission Workshop
December 1, 2015
The Scoop on
Transfer of Development Rights
Concept of TDR
•TDR works within the context of
zoning
•TDR is NOT a substitute for Zoning
•“…development rights from one
parcel [defined by zoning] are lifted
up and placed on another”
- TDR Handbook
•“This transfer protects the first
parcel from [the initial level of]
development and causes the other
parcel to carry the additional load as
more building area” - TDR Handbook
P&Z Commission Workshop
December 1, 2015
Some TDR History
•NYC 1916 Zoning Code TDR first
introduced with passage of the first
American Zoning Ordinance.
•Since 1916, TDR employed as a Growth
Management Tool throughout the US
•1978, US Supreme Court Case: Penn
Central v. City of New York TDR was
sufficient to mitigate any financial
burden imposed by NYC’s Preservation
Law
•The principal of rights transfer became
the foundation of other policy
mechanisms such as fishing permits
(1986, Australia) and Sulphur Dioxide
Emissions (1990’s, US)
P&Z Commission Workshop
December 1, 2015
•35 states in the US have TDR
•9 states (including Texas) have TDR
without special State Enabling
Legislation
•Cities in Texas with Active TDR:
–Dallas: Written by Robin in 1973 to
provide an incentive for historic
preservation
–Austin: Part of Barton Creek Watershed
Ordinance. Protects environmentally
sensitive areas from development.
–San Marcos : Part of Aquifer Recharge,
Rivers, and Springs Protection Ordinances.
Who Else is Using TDR?
P&Z Commission Workshop
December 1, 2015
•Texas Gov. Code, Ch. 45: Sec 51.012: “The municipality may adopt an ordinance, act, law, or regulation, not inconsistent with state law, that is necessary for the government, interest, welfare, or good order of the municipality as a body politic…”
•The lengthy Comp Plan process sets the framework for, thresholds for, and calls for a TDR program in Westlake, establishing a connection between this effort and Sec 51.012 (Comp Plan adopted by ordinance)
•Main supporting reason for Program: Existing entitlements saturate the capacity of any conceivable future road system within the Town…need to increase density where desirable without additional impact.
Enablement
P&Z Commission Workshop
December 1, 2015
P&Z Commission Workshop
December 1, 2015
Transfer of Development Rights (TDR)
v.
Transfer of Development Square
Footage (TDSF)
•The PD’s = Complex set of “rights”:
Rights are more than density, height, and
coverage.
•Land Use Integrity: Important to preserve
•Transfer will not alter flood plains,
wetlands, buffers, etc.: These are rights
of use not permitted and specific to a location.
•Working within a Variance
Authority: Allowing a new Land Use is not a
variance; TDSF (without re-zoning) is a variance.
Therefore, TDSF not TDR: WESTLAKE’S
PROGRAM WILL TRANSFER DEVELOPMENT
SQUARE FOOTAGE ALONG WITH NEEDED VARIANCE
TO DENSITY, HEIGHT, AND COVERAGE…NOT
DEVELOPMENT RIGHTS.
TDR or TDSF?
P&Z Commission Workshop
December 1, 2015
TDSF’s Importance to
the Town
•Avoid the burden of increased traffic
volumes as a result of additional
zoning.
•Comp Plan establishes maximum
capacity.
•To maintain balance, future up-zoning
would require down-zoning
somewhere else in the
Town…impossible to do.
•Preservation of environmental and
visual character that supports value.
•Protection of natural systems.
P&Z Commission Workshop
December 1, 2015
•Most Zoning accomplished
through Planned Development
Ordinances, which have been
refined and adjusted over the
years (since 1992), contain
permitted development conditions
and rights land owners want to
keep.
•Predate newer ordinances =
vested rights
•Reopening PD’s through zoning
change process = possible
recalibration and new conditions
P&Z Commission Workshop
December 1, 2015
TDSF’s Importance to the Land Owner
P&Z Commission Workshop
December 1, 2015
How it will Work in Westlake
Westlake’s Updated Comp Plan
•Establishes: the development
entitlement capacity for Westlake overall
and a template for redistribution of
existing development square footage.
•Sets up: the justification for
identification of areas from which
development square footage should be
exported and areas to which
development square footage should be
imported
•Identifies: Sending Areas and
Receiving areas
•Describes: desirable levels of
development in each area which can be
attained through Transfer of
Development Square Footage
P&Z Commission Workshop
December 1, 2015
P&Z Commission Workshop
December 1, 2015
Westlake’s Updated Comp Plan
•Virginia Legislation: “Receiving Areas
are 1 or more areas identified by ordinance
and designated by the Comprehensive Plan”
•The Literature: “Ideally the
Comprehensive Plan should identify
Receiving Areas and establish maximum
densities…the plan should clearly state that
future zoning code amendment will require
acquisition of TDR’s to achieve the plan’s
maximum densities”
•TDR Handbook: “The Comprehensive
Plan as an instrument that gives the TDR
Program particular substance and legal
strength”
P&Z Commission Workshop
December 1, 2015
Westlake’s Updated Comp Plan
Sending and Receiving Areas
Sending Areas:
•Areas identified in the Comp Plan
as places where view exposure,
environmental sensitivity,
proximity to residential use, and
public uses makes commercial
development above certain FAR
levels potentially disruptive.
•Areas from which development
square footage would be
authorized to be “severed”
•Once “severed” they can be
relocated to a Receiving Area
P&Z Commission Workshop
December 1, 2015
Receiving Areas:
•Areas identified in the Comp Plan as places where the visual/ environmental impacts of increased development can be tolerated without negatively affecting those cherished aspects of Westlake’s visual and environmental quality.
•Areas where traffic capacity and infrastructure opportunity is (or will be) greatest; or where existing topo can conceal more intense development.
•Moving Commercial SF from an environmentally/visually sensitive Sending Area for the purpose of preservation is in the best interest of the Municipality.
P&Z Commission Workshop
December 1, 2015
Sending and Receiving Areas
TDSF Through Variance
•Any proposed importation of
development SF to a tract located in
a Receiving Area will require a Site
Plan that must be approved by
Commission and Council Action
before the Transfer can be
executed.
•Approval of the Site Plan constitutes
a Variance to the Spatial/ Density
conditions of the PD as they are
applicable to the area of the Site
Plan.
P&Z Commission Workshop
December 1, 2015
•Site Plan must show total amount and usage of the imported SF as well
as document the SF exported from a specific parcel, tract, PD District,
etc. within the Sending Area.
•Parcels/Tracts/PD Districts not included are not affected.
P&Z Commission Workshop
December 1, 2015
Next Steps
We Need the Following:
•Final Tabulation: A single
specification for Development Square
Footage. We currently have 3 different ways
of specifying.
–Absolute number
–FAR
–Percent of total land area
•A Yield Plan: The potential severability.
Additional SF above the preferred SF for the
Development Area
•Transfer Capacity Plan: The
additional SF that can be added to the base
entitlement in receiving areas through TDSF
P&Z Commission Workshop
December 1, 2015
•Establish: The TDSF Option (voluntary Program)
within the Municipal Zoning Code (Ch. 102)
•Establish: Sending Areas
•Determine: The Development SF that can be
Transferred
•Establish: A process for Severance of
Development SF and its recordation
•Establish: Procedure for protection of
severance
•Establish: Receiving Areas
•Establish: Special Site Plan submittal
requirements and procedures
•Establish: Process for Commission/ Council
consideration and final recordation of the Transfer
Where to from here?
P&Z Commission Workshop
December 1, 2015
•Literature Research
•Other Ordinance Review
•Review of Chapter 102
•Dialogue with the Town Attorney
–more is needed on certain topics
• Some dialogue with property owners
–more is planned
RECAP: What’s been done so far
P&Z Commission Workshop
December 1, 2015
Questions?
P&Z Commission Workshop
December 1, 2015