Plowing New Ground
2001 Revised Edition
General Information (pdf, 140KB)
- What is the purpose of the Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) program?
- What is the Rural Density Transfer (RDT) zone?
- What are the benefits of being in the RDT zone?
- If land is zoned RDT, what can an owner who wishes to continue farming do with the land?
- For land zoned RDT, what can a farmer who wants to develop do with the land?
- Is there a maximum and minimum lot size?
- Is there a limitation on the possible subdivision configurations?
- Are lots for the landowner's children exempt?
- Can the number of lots created for the landowner's children exceed the density of one dwelling unit per 25 acres?
- Do all residences, including tenant houses and mobile homes, account for the allowable TDR's for the property?
- Can an owner deed off a portion of the farm?
- What happens if the property was deeded prior to 1981?
- What is the relationship of the "sending" and "receiving" areas to the TDR program?
Sending Areas (pdf, 678KB)
- How are develop rights transferred?
- How are develop rights valued?
- Can TDR's be recaptured?
- Must a farmland owner sell all of the develop rights from the farmland?
- Once developed rights are sold, is the property's develop potential reduced accordingly?
- May the farmland owner purchase develop rights from someone else and then develop the property at a higher density than in the RDT zone?
- If a farmland owner sells land for public use, may the development rights either be sold or retained?
- What is the long-term develop potential once the development rights are sold?
- How are properties of less than 25 acres affected?
- What happens to properties in the agricultural reserve which do not conform to the provisions of the RDT zone?
Receiving Areas (pdf, 597KB)
- Who can buy TDR's?
- What is the procedure for severing a TDR from the land, but not transferring it?
- How is a parcel of land identified as a receiving area?
- What are receiving area zones?
- Are the area master plans and zoning maps the only way to identify receiving areas?
- Can TDR's be used in any receiving area anywhere in the county?
- Does an owner in a receiving area have to go through a rezoning process?
- May a developer in a receiving area petition to have TDR optional density increased?
- What can a developer do with unused purchased development rights when the property in the receiving area is fully developed?
- May a property owner in a designated receiving area develop it without purchasing development rights?
- As a potential purchaser of development rights, how can a developer check their validity?
- Can an owner resubdivide land in the receiving area after develop rights have been used?
- What is the smallest number of units which a developer needs to make use of development rights?
Density Option Develop Procedures in a TDR Receiving Area (pdf, 549KB)
- What is the method for calculating the number of possible TDR's for property in a TDR receiving area?
- Are TDR's required for moderately priced dwelling units calculated in accordance with chapter 25-A of the county law?
- What is the minimum number of TDR's needed for a property, if developed at a density less than the maximum number of TDR's recommended in the master plan?
- Can the two-thirds requirement be waived for any reason?
- Does the TDR recommendation on a master plan represent the actual number of units that will be approved on a preliminary plan, site plan, or final record plat?
- If the preliminary plan only covers a portion of the property, are the TDR's calculated on the entire property or only that portion covered by the preliminary plan?
- Are the dwelling units or lots, resulting from the use of TDR's, calculated on the entire property or only that portion covered by the preliminary plan?
- If the number of required TDR's is based on the acreage of the property shown on a preliminary plan, is this method of calculation also applied to record plats?
- What standards are used for development when applying the TDR density option?
- When applying MPDU Provisions to a TDR development, can the number of dwelling units exceed the TDR density option as expressed in the master plan recommendation?
- What is the procedure for transferring development rights?
- Do TDR's have serial numbers?
- What is the length of time to complete the TDR process?
- Does the use of TDR's in a receiving area affect the water and sewer category?
- Can available TDR's from two or more parcels of land in the RDT zone be used for an increase in density on a single property designated as a receiving area?
- Are adjoining owners and citizen groups notified of a proposed TDR subdivision plan?
- What sections of the zoning ordinance and subdivision regulations give guidance to the TDR process?
Rural Open Space (pdf, 372KB)
- What is the rural open space?
- How does the plan propose to accomplish this objective?
- How does the RC zone differ from the RDT zone?
- How does the RC zone differ from the Rural zone?
- What are the benefits of being in the RC zone?
- What are the possible subdivision configurations in the RC zone?
- Where is the rural cluster zone applied?
- How is open space maintained?
- What will prevent future subdivisions of the open space?
- What are the development options in the RC zone?
- Who determines if an owner may cluster?
- What is the smallest lot size?
- Must an owner have community water and sewer to cluster in the RC zone?
- What land uses are allowed in the RC zone?
- Are MPDU's required in the agricultural zone?
Other Farmland Preservation Techniques (pdf, 319KB)
- Can farms zoned other than RDT or RC still receive farmland assessment?
- Are there other programs to protect farmland?
- Does the State sponsor any programs to protect farmland?
- Does the County sponsor any programs to protect farmland?
- How does the Maryland Environmental Trust protect farmland?
- Can a farmland owner participate in more than one preservation program?
- Does any one preservation program offer more advantages to the farmland owner