The County Board has advertised an amendment to Section 36.H of the Zoning Ordinance (�Administration and Procedures� for Site Plan Approval) that would permit Transfer of Development Rights (TDRs) from a sending site to a receiving site;

The proposed TDR language identifies the purposes of TDRs as open space, historic preservation, affordable housing (low or moderate income), community recreation, and community facilities;

The sending site would likely sell unused density and would forfeit future rights to that density unless the sending site were up-zoned;

Staff has indicated that the receiving site could receive additional development beyond what would otherwise be allowed or approved under the current zoning, General Land Use Plan, or Sector Plan;

There are many potential sending sites in Arlington that currently are developed below their maximum capacity, including publicly-owned and privately-owned parcels;

The proposed wording of the Zoning Ordinance Amendment does not limit sending sites to privately owned property or to commercially-zoned property, leaving open the potential for unused density in public parks or on property controlled by non-profit entities to become new revenue streams;

The Virginia General Assembly gave only Arlington the authority to adopt TDRs, which will expire on July 1, 2008 if not adopted by the County Board; and

The staff report says that ��additional work is needed to fully develop all the details of how the program would work� � yet supports adoption of the TDR before details have been developed.

BE IT RESOLVED THAT THE ARLINGTON COUNTY CIVIC FEDERATION:

1) Strongly urges the County Board to defer adoption of TDRs until the details have been developed and shared with the public; and the public has been informed how TDRs will work in combination with other bonus density options.

2) Expresses concern about the potential transfer of development rights for existing publicly owned parcels.

3) Asks the County Board to identify the sending and receiving sites that they know are interested in using TDRs.

This page was last revised on: November 14, 2006.