Land Use Regulations

Table of Contents

Introduction
Zoning Regulations Overview
          Single Use Districts
          Mixed Use Districts
          Special Districts
                    Overlay Districts
                    Floating Zones
          CT Statutory Requirements
          MA Statutory Requirements
Innovative Zoning Techniques
          Transfer of Development Rights
          Form-Based Zoning
          Streamlined Zoning
          Performance Zoning              
Subdivision Regulations Overview
          In Connecticut 
                    CT Statutory Requirements
          In Massachusetts
                    MA Statutory Requirements
          Conservation Subdivisions
QSHC Examples
Helpful Links
References

Innovative Zoning Techniques
Innovative zoning techniques are being used around the country, although these techniques are often first tested in areas of extremely high growth or in communities or regions that are searching for better solutions.  Innovative Zoning Techniques were identified as one of the top three areas of interest in the Green Valley Institute’s recent needs assessment survey.  These techniques can provide new solutions for focusing growth, protecting natural resources and retaining rural character.

Transfer of Development Rights
Transfer of Development Rights or TDR is an innovative tool that can be used to protect open space and farmland by directing development to village centers and downtowns. The specifics of how TDR programs work vary greatly, however the general premise is the same. The development rights are transferred from one property to another. In the process farmers and other landowners are paid to permanently protect their land and new development is encouraged in village and other growth centers.

TDR programs identify sending and receiving zones.  The sending zone usually consists of agricultural land, forest or other natural features that a community wants to protect.  Some TDR programs include a historic preservation component as well.  The receiving zone is designated in an existing village center, downtown or other area where infrastructure is already in place and development investment is desired.  Sometimes the receiving zone is the site of a new village center.

TDR programs allow developers to build more intensively in receiving zones in exchange for land being permanently protected in a sending zone. Overlay districts are often used to designate both sending and receiving zones.  The number of development rights in both districts is based on the underlying zoning.  Density bonuses can be used to further promote development in the receiving zone.  Sometimes the base density is decreased before the TDR program is put in place to increase the incentive to participate in the program.  TDR programs have been most successful where there is a strong market for development (Pruetz, 1997).

TDR has now been used across the country.  In some places these programs are conducted on a regional or countywide basis.  One example is San Luis Obispo County, California.  In this program development rights are sold to the Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County who in turn sells them to receiving site owners for increased density.  The Conservancy acts as a “TDR bank” which facilitates the buying and selling of development rights.  The Conservancy now has a revolving fund in place that was started with seed money from the California Coastal Conservancy (Pruetz, 1997). 

 

Another option is to have a town-wide TDR program, as some New England towns are currently doing including Falmouth and Plymouth, MA. Another New England town, Jericho, Vermont, requires that sending sites must contain 25% prime agricultural land.  There are two receiving zones which allow for village scale development with a 100% density bonus for participating in the TDR program (i.e. the base residential density in the village zone is 1 dwelling/acre and can be increased to 2 dwellings/acre with the TDR program (Pruetz, 1997)). 

These are a sample of the variety of TDR programs being conducted at various scales in a wide range of communities. There are small towns such as Chesterfield, N.J., population 5,100 that - have TDR programs too. Sometimes development rights are bought and sold privately – from property to owner to property owner – and sometimes a “TDR bank” is used to facilitate these transactions. A TDR bank (such as the SLO County Conservancy example, above) can offer more flexibility since a buyer and seller don’t necessarily have to be available simultaneously (Pruetz, 1997)

TDR is allowed in CT under state statute (Chapter 124, Sections 8, 8-2f and 8-2e, see http://www.cga.ct.gov/2005/pub/Chap124.htm) however, it has not yet been widely used in the state.  The Town of Hebron, CT adopted TDR to transfer future development out of the Amston Lake District to protect the lake, groundwater and the neighborhood.  The receiving area is a designated portion of the Sewer Service District.

CT statutes also allow for the development of inter-municipal TDR programs.  The statutes say that “two or more municipalities, with the approval of the legislative body, may execute an agreement providing for a system of development rights and transfer of development rights across boundaries of municipalities (Section 8-2e).” 

TDR is allowed in MA by special permit, which also allows development rights to be transferred between districts.  These ordinances or by-laws include incentives such as increases in density or population, intensity of use or amount of floor space or percentage of lot coverage, that encourage the TDR in a manner that protects open space, preserves farmland, promotes housing for persons of low and moderate income or furthers other community interests.  For more details see http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/40a-9.htm .

The online MA Smart Growth Toolkit has Model TDR Bylaws with two different approaches, the Preservation Approach and the Density Bonus Approach.  For more information see http://www.mass.gov/envir/smart_growth_toolkit/bylaws/TDR-Bylaw.pdf.

In the QSHC, there may be an opportunity for a number of communities to join together to protect rural character and agricultural uses and either reinvigorate an old village center or downtown or direct growth to a new center by using TDR.  The City’s of Newbury and Newburyport, MA have recently been working on an intercity TDR program that may prove to be a model for other multi-town TDR programs in New England.

See also Community Planning Fact Sheet #7, Innovative Zoning Techniques – Transfer of Development Rights.

Other TDR programs & resources:

Kings County Washington http://dnr.metrokc.gov/wlr/tdr/index.htm

New Jersey, Office of Smart Growth http://www.nj.gov/dca/osg/resources/tdr/index.shtml

Land Use Law Center Pace University http://www.law.pace.edu/landuse/btdr.html

Saved by Development: Preserving Environmental Areas, Farmland and Historic Landmarks with Transfer of Development Rights, R. Pruetz. Arje Press, Burbank, CA. 1997

Beyond Takings & Givings, R. Prutz. Arje Press, Burbank, CA. 2003

 

Form-based Zoning
Form-based zoning which focuses on “shaping the form of the built environment rather than on uses” is one of the most innovative zoning techniques being used today.  It has not been used extensively in New England but is being used extensively in higher growth areas of the country such as California and the south.  Following the destruction of Hurricane Katrina many communities in the south are turning to form-based zoning as a redevelopment tool.  By using this innovative zoning technique, these communities will have more control over their character in the future (Langdon, 2006).

Many communities have found that traditional land use regulations encouraged a separate-use, automobile dependent pattern of settlement that is no longer working for much of society today.  Form-based zoning was developed in response to conventional zoning’s inability to define and create character, and walkable, mixed use communities (Langdon, 2006).

The following before and after images of Petaluma, CA are an example of what form-based zoning can look like when implemented.  This type of new development would fit in with the character of many New England town centers as well.

Before, The Basin Street Landing Project, Petaluma, CA



After, The Basin Street Landing Project, Petaluma, CA

Temple Terrace, Florida Code, Courtesy Planning

Form-based codes are very place specific and usually regulate at the neighborhood scale or smaller.  These codes are especially useful in urban centers but can also used in existing or new village centers.  They may be integrated into existing zoning ordinances and may be mandatory or implemented as an optional overlay zone (see above).  “Incentives such as faster permitting and higher density are often offered to make pedestrian-oriented, mixed use development enticing to developers.” (Langdon, 2006)

Saratoga Springs, NY. (population 36,000) has three form-based districts in its core urban center. The remaining town area is regulated by a traditional zoning ordinance.  The City adopted a form-based code in 2003 after years of trying other ways to preserve and add onto the historic fabric of its downtown (Langdon, 2006). The form-based districts are designed to preserve and create mixed-use, pedestrian character streets and neighborhoods that relate to nearby natural areas and neighborhood centers. (Chapter 240, Zoning Ordinance of the City of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., 2005) www.saratoga-springs.org/docs/bpwebsite.asp

Saratoga’s three form-based districts are Urban Neighborhood, Neighborhood Center and Urban Core.  The Urban Neighborhood District has a primarily residential character with both attached and detached low rise buildings.  The Neighborhood Center promotes a wider mix of residential and non-residential uses and building types.  The Urban Core  incorporates the downtown area which has the densest business, cultural and entertainment concentration in the city and the region (Chapter 240, Zoning Ordinance of the City of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., 2005).  The ordinance’s key mandates are that buildings be built close to the street, they must occupy most of the frontage and be at least 2 stories but less than 70 feet tall (Langdon, 2006).

In Saratoga Springs form-based zoning has resulted in new development that is consistent with the historic character of the city .  A recent critique of form-based codes identifies advantages such as “better results on the ground, stronger connections between plans and regulations, effective illustration of building rules, and greater consistency of the built environment with stated community desires.”  The same article however, notes that form-based codes will not supplant conventional zoning because they are so place specific and that these codes can be complicated (Weitz, 2005).

Form-based coding is still a new regulatory technique and there may be issues to work through.  However, this new form of zoning is another tool communities in the QSHC can use to maintain the New England character of their villages, downtowns and new town centers.

See also Community Planning Fact Sheet #8, Innovative Zoning Techniques – Form-Based Zoning.

For additional information about Form-based Codes see:

Form-based Code Institute
http://formbasedcodes.org/index.html

Form-based Codes: Implementing Smart Growth (fact sheet)

SmartCode – model ordinance
http://placemakers.com

Urban Neighborhood District, Zoning Ordinance, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Urban Neighborhood, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Urban Core, Zoning Ordinance, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Urban Core, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Streamlined Zoning or Dezoning -
“Dezoning is a radical streamlining and simplification of zoning regulations, particularly the use and bulk regulations” (Abeles Phillips Preiss & Shapiro, Inc. & The Metropolitan Economic Growth Council, 2002).  The concept is that existing land use regulations are often too complex to allow for good creative development and that simplifying use and development regulations will promote redevelopment by allowing greater flexibility in design and development (Abeles Phillips Preiss & Shapiro, Inc. & The Metropolitan Economic Growth Council, 2002).

This concept may have limited applicability in the QSHC since it is more pertinent to larger communities that often have very complex zoning ordinances.  However, it could also be used in rural areas to create new mixed-use village centers.  QSHC urban centers and larger villages may find this technique useful to attract new economic development, including redevelopment and infill.

As use and development regulations are simplified, strict design regulations and environmental standards should be implemented.  Design regulations in town centers should promote a pedestrian friendly environment and pedestrian scale development.  Incentives, such as allowing greater density in town centers, can be utilized to further promote better design (Abeles Phillips Preiss & Shapiro, Inc. & The Metropolitan Economic Growth Council, 2002).

Standards to ensure the environmental integrity of new development might include performance standards, which establish “impact thresholds” against which new development is measured (see performance standards below).  Design regulations and environmental standards should not be so complex that they counteract the value of streamlining zoning but they must ensure that new development of various uses works together and does not adversely impact natural resources (Abeles Phillips Preiss & Shapiro, Inc. & The Metropolitan Economic Growth Council, 2002).

For additional information see Livable Communities Toolkit at: http://www.crcog.org/publications/tcsp.html

Performance Zoning -
Like dezoning, performance zoning is built on the premises that traditional zoning can be too complex.  “Performance zoning regulates the impacts of land uses rather than the uses themselves.” (Daniels, Keller & Lapping, 1995)  Performance zoning lumps land uses together into broad categories and is much more flexible than conventional zoning.  These standards regulate how new development impacts the environment and surrounding land uses.

As stated above “impact thresholds” are designated, such as the amount of impervious surface cover and the number of automobile trips allowed or the amount of open space required (Abeles Phillips Preiss & Shapiro, Inc. & The Metropolitan Economic Growth Council, 2002).  Performance standards can offer communities more flexible regulations with simplified land use requirements.  However, performance standards themselves can be difficult to administer and take some trial and error to get what works best for your community (Daniels, Keller & Lapping, 1995).

Some communities have incorporated performance zoning (and other innovative zoning techniques) into traditional zoning ordinances.  The Town of Mansfield in the QSHC is one example.  The performance standards identified in Mansfield’s Zoning Ordinance apply to all land uses within the town.  They are designed to protect the community from potential harmful impacts of certain land uses and development.  For more detailed information see Mansfield’s Zoning Ordinance at: