Orange County NC Website
Group: Yes. <br />Paragraph 3 <br />Lee: Thinks this paragraph is most important in proposal. What <br />this really is, is a presumption that higher intensity uses are <br />permitted in pumpkin or rust. This is conditioned upon purchasing <br />a conservation easement from a landowner with property in yellow or <br />pumpkin area and conservation easement is in perpetuity, e.g., you <br />want to build at twice the intensity currently allowed; for each <br />additional unit you want to build, the regulations would be written <br />such that if you purchased conservaticn easements (to be held by <br />Orange County, the Eno River Foundation, or Triangle Land <br />Conservancy) for 200 acres in the yellow or pumpkin areas and they <br />were duly recorded, you would be able to build 200 more units on <br />the property. Don't know if one acre for one unit is the right <br />formula, but using it for example. This results in two very good <br />things: <br />1. A form of - TDR that allows us to maintain a roughly equivalent <br />number on units in the area so no matter where units end up, <br />we know how many there will be; and <br />2. Preserves land values of people who are sellers and enhances <br />land values of people who are buyers. <br />This preserves the land value of sellers because it is a fairly <br />small market and they should be able to get a reasonable price for <br />their conservation easement. Enhances land value of buyers because <br />they are implementing higher density in an area where there is <br />going to be lots of open space preserved; there are studies that <br />indicate open space enhances the value of adjacent areas. This <br />creates an environment conducive to increased land values for <br />everybody; "near perfection" if written correctly by the laTayers. <br />Elio: Large landowners with land in both areas could sell <br />themselves the right for higher density on one part of their land. <br />Curtis: Life of a conservation easement? <br />Lee: Perpetuity. <br />Curtis: Like an end on things. If you put an end on this might be <br />able to accept. Got to have an end like 10 or 20 years. We don't <br />know what things will be like in 20 years. <br />Lee: With this system we do know there will be a lot of preserved <br />open space. <br />Elio: Two ways to view: <br />1. Open ended; the area is growing, people moving in, there is <br />land available for development, need to take advantage of it. <br />2. Nice area, want to preserve desirable characteristics; to do <br />so have to create incentives for doing things in a certain <br />way. Once incentives in place, area will have well - defined <br />0 <br />