Orange County NC Website
Orange County Transfer of Development Rights Feasibility Study <br />DRAFT Technical A9emorandum No. 2. Summary of Findings and Recommendations <br />There are no absolute barriers to the administrative launching or operation of a TDR <br />program. However, the following items may guide the ultimate design of the program. <br />There are pros and cons to either administering it through one centralized <br />department or through several departments. <br />An initial investment of funds will be needed to staff and operate the TDR <br />program, but the potential exists for a net increase in tax revenues to support some <br />or all of its operating costs. <br />A critical component of the inaugural and ongoing operating costs will be public <br />communications. <br />The County will want to set performance objectives for the TDR program and <br />then develop a comprehensive but simple and relatively inexpensive set of <br />measurements to evaluate the program's performance against those objectives. <br />There are pros and cons to either allowing for administrative approval of TDR <br />applications (i,e,, Staff review and approval only) or requiring aquasi-judicial <br />review and approval process involving the County Commission, However, an <br />administrative review would provide an important level of clarity and surety to <br />potential private developers that embarking on an additional set of TDR-related <br />requirements will be worth the trouble. <br />The TDR program's design and inauguration should be coordinated with other <br />programs and initiatives of the County to take advantage of opportunities for <br />complementary services (e.g., Lands Legacy Program) and avoid competing with or <br />detracting from them. In particular, while it should be closely coordinated with the <br />update of the Comprehensive Plan's Land Use Element, at this time neither one <br />needs to be postponed until the other is completed, <br />14 <br />Deleted: <$>The TDR prog2m <br />could opeate either with pre-set <br />easement acquisition prices and <br />pre-set density bonus fees <br />determined by the County, or It could <br />allow private market negotiations <br />between Sending and Receiving Area <br />property owners [o determine the <br />dollar value of the transactions while <br />the County determines the amount of <br />density bonus awardable for meetlng <br />specified sending Area preservatlon <br />