[Chapter_Fourteen] transfer of development rights

[margaretha haughwout]

dear sf permaculture guild:

i'm wondering what folks think about this project happening in kings county
washington:

http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/stewardship/sustainable-building/transfer-development-rights/overview.aspx

The overview is quoted here:

"The right to develop land for residential or commercial purposes is one of
a bundle of rights associated with land ownership. The County’s TDR Program
allows landowners of designated sending sites to separate the right to
develop land from the bundle of other property rights. Sending sites are
rural or resource lands with farm, forest, open space, or regional trail
amenities.

Through TDR, the separated right(s) are turned into a tradable commodity
that can be bought and sold – just as land can be bought and sold. When a
landowner chooses to separate some, or all, development rights, the property
is preserved through a conservation
easement<http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/stewardship/sustainable-building/transfer-development-rights/definitions.aspx#conservation%20easement>.
A conservation easement can act to reduce landowner property taxes.
Landowners *can *retain development rights on their property for future use
and the land remains in private ownership.

These transferable development rights or “TDRs” are typically bought by
developers of designated receiving sites. Receiving sites are typically
Urban areas eligible for increased density. The purchased TDRs give
developers the ability to build additional houses that exceed the number
allowed by the zoning base density. The diagram below illustrates the basic
TDR principle."


my main question is about increasing density in one area, and lessening it
in others. seems this reinforces the idea that large tracks of land can't be
engaged by humans because they'll ruin it, rather than encouraging the
proven ability for indigenous-minded peoples to engage the land in fertile
ways. does this TDR project end up exacerbating an unhealthy divide between
civilization and the wild, thus contributing to more crime (via dense
disconnected urban areas), greenhouse gas emissions (having to transport
food into the city), etc. etc.?

looking forward to hearing some thoughts,
/m

-- 
i work at the intersection of different kinds of commons in order to
unravel civilization.

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