News

Special Town Meeting to vote on development rights
By Naomi Morrison

New Gloucester-- At Monday night's meeting the Board of Selectmen unanimously voted to schedule a special town meeting to consider the Transfer of Development Rights (TDR). The date, which may be in early December, will be announced at the next Selectmen's meeting scheduled for November 29.

The TDR is a land use tool that allows rural landowners to preserve their land while selling the development rights attached to that land to developers who wish to use those rights on land zoned for growth. The TDR zones were mapped using the models of growth and rural areas of the comprehensive plan in 1991.

All of the land on the western side of the Maine Turnpike has been designated as the sending zone (green zone), as well as the eastern borders of New Gloucester. This is primarily agricultural and forestry land that the town wishes to preserve. The middle of the town, east of the Maine Turnpike to Rt. 100 and areas east of Rt. 100, have been selected as the receiving zone (blue zone), which is land the town has chosen for future growth. The white zone is land that was left open to leave room for either green or blue zones to expand in the future.


To transfer development rights, a person must own a minimum of 10 acres, of which every two acres is one right that the owner may transfer. If on this 10 acre parcel, the owner decided to build on his own land instead of transfering the rights, he would only be able to divide his land up into two five-acre parcels.

Here is an example: John Doe owns 100 acres of land in the green zone. By using his development rights on his own land, he can only build 20 homes. Instead, John Doe decides to sell his rights to a developer that owns land, or plans to own land, in the blue zone. He now has 50 rights to sell.

After purchasing those 50 rights, the developer can double the amount of development that would be allowed on 100 acres of land in the blue zone. The price of those rights can be based on either the fair market value or what the developer wishes to pay, said Isaacson. If a person is in a 5-acre density zone they may either develop at the five-acre density or transfer a 2-are density. The majority of land in New Gloucester is 5-acre Fram and Forest. A person in a 2-acre Rural Residential zone may either develop or transfer at the same ratio.

Ny non-developable land that is normally taken out of the equation, is not counted toward the density of the transfer rights. That would inclue wetlands, floodplain land and other land that is not normally developed anyway.

"We wanted to create a scenario where the economic rights would work in favor of TDR," Town Planner James Isaacson said... "and the money has to drive it."

When zoning the town of New Gloucester, its natural resources were the primary concern of how to divide the town. "It was decided that where the growth is, is actually where it should be," said Isaacson. He continued by explaining that there's better topography, less ledge, more roads and the infrastructure was already centered in the blue zone. And in the green zone, the soil was poorer for septic systems, there was more ledge, more wetlands and fewer roads.

There are some cases where farmlands are located in the neutral/white zone or in the blue zone. Thompson's Orchards, for instance, is located in the blue zone. Farmland is what the town aims to preserve, so the orchard would qualify for selling their development rights even though it is located in the growth area of the town, said Isaacson.

"It [TDR] is open to all farmers regardless of what zone," he said, "including the white."

Although the TDR essentially gives developers the opportunity to double the development rights of their land, the impact on the environment is still a priority. Landholders who wish to take advantage of this program will be required to do ground water studies on their land prior to being approved building rights. There is a section in the blue zone that is recognized as having high amounts of ground water that could potentially be a town water supply in the future, said Isaacson, and the town would like to protect that. He continued by saying that the major factor on how many additional development rights that can be transfered is the environment.

If this program is successful and other towns adopt a similar program, Isaacson said he would like to open an interlocal agreement. Joining with other towns would provide many more opportunities. Selectmen Chair Steve Libby said that logistically a program such as this would be hard to get off the ground because every town wants to do it their own way.

The Central Corridor Coalition, an organization that works to bring towns together on certain issues, would be the avenue to help with the effort. Libby said an interlocal agreement is not agreed to overnight. As of now, Cape Elizabeth is the only town that has a TDR program, but it has never been used. Brunswick had a similar program that was also never used and was recently repealed.

"I've talked to landowners and they're interested in preserving their land," said Isaacson. "I've talked to developers and they're interested in using the program. I think it will work [for New Gloucester] because both sides of the equation are interested in doing this."

If at the special town meeting the TDR proposal is approved, Isaacson has recommended it take effect 60 days after adoption in order to further prepare the mapping system, develop applications, and work on other items pertinent to TDR.