| Transfer
of Development Credits (TDCs) |
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Albertans have an intuitive sense that
certain landscapes enhance their communities, that the loss of
those valued landscapes diminishes the community, and that some
activities threaten those landscapes. The province has seen an
unparalleled rate of growth in recent years in population, economic
activity and associated land uses, putting tremendous pressure
for conversion on those valued landscapes. The complexity of addressing
the basic dilemma of reconciling development and conservation
activity has led many American communities to implement the Transfer
of Development Credits (TDC) tool.
TDC programs allow municipalities to direct
development away from areas which are threatened by it, and toward
more suitable areas, using a municipal planning framework that
allows development potential to be bought and sold on the open
market, and perpetually extinguished on the valued landscapes.
Landowners in designated 'sending areas' are able to sever and
sell their development potential to landowner/developers in a
designated 'receiving area', who in turn are able to increase
development density beyond the base amount allowed by zoning.
Sending area parcels receive long-term protection through a deed-restricting
mechanism which limits certain activities.
The Miistakis Institute has been engaged
in a partnership with Red Deer County to explore the potential
for the Transfer of Development Credits tool to be applied in
that community. Ultimately, we are planning to create a proposed
comprehensive framework for the implementation of Transfer of
Development Credits in Red Deer County, one which will also provide
a blueprint for any Alberta community.
Through 2007 and 2008, Alberta has seen
a dramatic increase in conversations around this tool. Some municipalities
have started down the road of implementing programs, and others
are actively researching the concept. The 2008 Alberta Draft Land-use
Framework made specific reference to the tool as potentially key
to supporting that policy structure.
To date, Miistakis has undertaken the
following activities, many of which are summarized in the documents
available for download from this page:
- Made numerous presentations to communities,
councils, and conferences around Alberta
- Visited and reviewed in depth four different successful
Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) programs in the United
States: Larimer County, Colorado; Boulder County, Colorado;
Montgomery County, Maryland; and Calvert County, Maryland
- Prepared a report for the Government of Alberta (Sustainable
Resource and Environmental Management office) examining the
role which the Province could play in supporting the TDC tool
- Prepared a report for the Government of Canada (Agriculture
and Agri-Food Canada) reviewing the state of TDC efforts nation-wide,
and the role which the tool could play in supporting the next
generation of the Agricultural Policy Framework
- Co-hosted a workshop in Red Deer County for municipal decision-makers to inform and discuss the application of Transfer of Development Credits in Alberta
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