Working for Smart Growth:
More Livable Places and Open Spaces

 

Transfer of Development Rights and Clustering

Rendering of Woolwich Township TDR

Proposed TDR receiving district for Woolwich, N.J. Courtesy GroupMELVINDesign

New Jersey municipalities have access to planning tools that can help preserve land and manage growth without having to rely solely on limited public funds allocated to land preservation. These mechanisms enable towns to transfer development from environmental, historic or agricultural areas in need of protection to places more suitable for growth. They range widely in scope and sophistication, from simple clustering provisions, where development is rearranged completely within a single parcel; to noncontiguous clustering, where development is transferred between two or more parcels; to the more complex and larger-scale transfer of development rights (TDR) option, where landowners in designated “sending areas” sell their development rights and agree to preserve those lands, and developers in designated “receiving areas” purchase those rights and with them the ability to build at a higher density than otherwise would be permitted.

TDR has been used successfully in New Jersey in Chesterfield and Lumberton townships, Burlington County and in the Pinelands region. Other attempts have encountered obstacles. With support from the William Penn Foundation, New Jersey Future convened a 40-member Transfer of Development Rights Task Force, which issued its final report in August 2010, recommending several statutory, regulatory and programmatic changes to facilitate the use of TDR and its cousins, clustering and noncontiguous clustering. As a result, New Jersey Future and other members from the TDR Task Force were instrumental in revising New Jersey’s Municipal Land Use Law (MLUL) to improve municipal access to the cluster and noncontiguous cluster tools.  Three years after the publication of the TDR Task Force’s final report, Governor Christie signed these revisions into law (P.L.2013, c.106).

In addition to the work New Jersey Future has done, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission convened a task force to study TDR issues in Salem County, N.J. The task force issued its final report (pdf) in June 2011. DVRPC also has a resource page for TDR in New Jersey and nationwide. 

New Jersey Future Blog
Rendering of Woolwich Township TDR
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Articles and Stories
Preserving Land through Market Real Estate Transactions

This report from New Jersey Future examines the use of non-contiguous clustering as a land-preservation tool in nine New Jersey municipalities. May 2012.

Noncontiguous Cluster Development

An overview of cluster development in New Jersey, along with relevant resources.

Transfer of Development Rights Program

Chesterfield is poised to become the state’s first municipality outside of the Pinelands to add significantly to its already impressive farmland preserve, using a Transfer-of-Development-Rights program.

2003 Smart Growth Award Winners

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See all New Jersey Future Blog posts and articles in this category »
 

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Ingrid Reed For Our Future Fund

 

Our New Jersey Future board of trustees, our staff, and our community, honors Ingrid’s legacy with the Ingrid Reed For our Future Fund, supporting education and training for future Smart Growth leaders with a particular focus on diversifying the field.

 

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