Preservation development
Encyclopedia
Preservation Development is a model of real estate development
that addresses farmland preservation
. It shares many attributes with conservation development
, with the addition of strategies for maintaining and operating productive agriculture
and silviculture
, often in perpetuity. A preservation development is a master planned community that allows limited, carefully designed development, typically housing, on a working farm, while placing the majority of productive land under a system of easements and community governance to ensure continuity of farming and environmental stewardship.
. Particular characteristics of the land, local market and local agricultural norms influence the tools to be deployed in each case. The successful project should, however, aim to meet several goals:
around Boston. Robert Baldwin, Sr. devised the system of interlocking “farmbelt” and “greenbelt” easements.. The system, and associated design and community governance tools, was refined through the 1990’s on projects around New England. In 2005, this model was expanded into the Southeast, beginning with the 2,300 acre (931 ha) Bundoran Farm, in Charlottesville, Virginia
.
, which prohibits or significantly limits future development of the land. The landowner may be directly compensated for the easement (Purchase of Development Rights), or the future-development rights may be considered a donation, subject to tax credits offsetting income taxes due. In some US states, the tax credits may be sold to generate income from the transaction. In a few localities, future-development rights may be sold or traded (Transfer of Development Rights), and redeployed in urbanizing areas.
Preservation Development is a market-based approach, and does not rely on taxpayer funding or charitable donation. The landowner sells the land. Development and land protections are enacted simultaneously, and the resulting subdivided parcels are sold to individuals. The value of each parcel is increased by adjacency and access to the conserved land, which allows development density significantly below that allowed by zoning
.
, wherein the natural carrying capacity
of land is considered not only in terms of development, but also in terms of agricultural capacity and ecological services. Rather than maximizing development, developers seek a balance between social, environmental and economic factors, a Triple Bottom Line
[TBL] approach.
and Smart Growth
promote density, interconnectivity and access to transit as desirable goals of urban planning. Both approaches privilege development in infill locations and brownfields. Preservation Development’s focus on greenfield sites with active agriculture and forestry places has placed it outside the mainstream of either movement.
Since 2001, however, New Urbanist planners Duany / Plater-Zyberk have promoted a “transect” zoning approach, recognizing the need to extend Smart Growth approaches to highly-urbanized and rural locations. These new codes address development pressure in exurban locations, as does Preservation Development. In this context, Preservation Development is an appropriate settlement pattern for the two or three lowest-density landscape types on the transect, and insufficiently dense for the other categories.
Some communities with zoning influenced by tenets of Smart Growth have embraced Preservation Development as an additional tool for managing exurban growth.
Real estate development
Real estate development, or Property Development, is a multifaceted business, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of improved land or parcels to others...
that addresses farmland preservation
Farmland preservation
Farmland preservation is a joint effort by non-governmental organizations and local governments to set aside and protect examples of a region's farmland for the use, education, and enjoyment of future generations...
. It shares many attributes with conservation development
Conservation development
Conservation development, also known as Conservation design, is a controlled-growth land use development that adopts the principle for allowing limited sustainable development while protecting the area’s natural environmental features in perpetuity, including preserving open space landscape and...
, with the addition of strategies for maintaining and operating productive agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
and silviculture
Silviculture
Silviculture is the practice of controlling the establishment, growth, composition, health, and quality of forests to meet diverse needs and values. The name comes from the Latin silvi- + culture...
, often in perpetuity. A preservation development is a master planned community that allows limited, carefully designed development, typically housing, on a working farm, while placing the majority of productive land under a system of easements and community governance to ensure continuity of farming and environmental stewardship.
Goals
Preservation Development is not a formal planning approach, but an example of goal-oriented environmental planningEnvironmental planning
Environmental Planning is the process of facilitating decision making to carry out development with due consideration given to the natural environmental, social, political, economic and governance factors and provides a holistic frame work to achieve sustainable outcomes.-Elements of environmental...
. Particular characteristics of the land, local market and local agricultural norms influence the tools to be deployed in each case. The successful project should, however, aim to meet several goals:
- 80% or more of the target parcel’s agricultural productivity should be retained.
- Development should take a form that does not interfere with productive land uses.
- Legal constructions should make land protections permanent, but flexible.
- Community Governance and management structures should be created to ensure stewardship of the community.
- The community should advance public education on the value of rural lands.
Origins
Preservation Development was developed in the 1980’s, in response rapid farmland loss due to urban sprawlUrban sprawl
Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a multifaceted concept, which includes the spreading outwards of a city and its suburbs to its outskirts to low-density and auto-dependent development on rural land, high segregation of uses Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a...
around Boston. Robert Baldwin, Sr. devised the system of interlocking “farmbelt” and “greenbelt” easements.. The system, and associated design and community governance tools, was refined through the 1990’s on projects around New England. In 2005, this model was expanded into the Southeast, beginning with the 2,300 acre (931 ha) Bundoran Farm, in Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for...
.
Relationship to other conservation methods
In the U.S., most land is conserved by a combination of charitable giving and tax incentives. Parcels with ecological, historic or scenic value may be voluntarily placed under conservation easementConservation easement
In the United States, a conservation easement is an encumbrance — sometimes including a transfer of usage rights — which creates a legally enforceable land preservation agreement between a landowner and a government agency or a qualified land...
, which prohibits or significantly limits future development of the land. The landowner may be directly compensated for the easement (Purchase of Development Rights), or the future-development rights may be considered a donation, subject to tax credits offsetting income taxes due. In some US states, the tax credits may be sold to generate income from the transaction. In a few localities, future-development rights may be sold or traded (Transfer of Development Rights), and redeployed in urbanizing areas.
Preservation Development is a market-based approach, and does not rely on taxpayer funding or charitable donation. The landowner sells the land. Development and land protections are enacted simultaneously, and the resulting subdivided parcels are sold to individuals. The value of each parcel is increased by adjacency and access to the conserved land, which allows development density significantly below that allowed by zoning
Zoning
Zoning is a device of land use planning used by local governments in most developed countries. The word is derived from the practice of designating permitted uses of land based on mapped zones which separate one set of land uses from another...
.
Relationship to Sustainable Development
Preservation Development is a type of Sustainable DevelopmentSustainable development
Sustainable development is a pattern of resource use, that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come...
, wherein the natural carrying capacity
Carrying capacity
The carrying capacity of a biological species in an environment is the maximum population size of the species that the environment can sustain indefinitely, given the food, habitat, water and other necessities available in the environment...
of land is considered not only in terms of development, but also in terms of agricultural capacity and ecological services. Rather than maximizing development, developers seek a balance between social, environmental and economic factors, a Triple Bottom Line
Triple bottom line
The triple bottom line captures an expanded spectrum of values and criteria for measuring organizational success: economic, ecological, and social...
[TBL] approach.
Relationship to Smart Growth
New UrbanismNew urbanism
New Urbanism is an urban design movement, which promotes walkable neighborhoods that contain a range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually continued to reform many aspects of real estate development, urban planning, and municipal land-use...
and Smart Growth
Smart growth
Smart growth is an urban planning and transportation theory that concentrates growth in compact walkable urban centers to avoid sprawl and advocates compact, transit-oriented, walkable, bicycle-friendly land use, including neighborhood schools, complete streets, and mixed-use development with a...
promote density, interconnectivity and access to transit as desirable goals of urban planning. Both approaches privilege development in infill locations and brownfields. Preservation Development’s focus on greenfield sites with active agriculture and forestry places has placed it outside the mainstream of either movement.
Since 2001, however, New Urbanist planners Duany / Plater-Zyberk have promoted a “transect” zoning approach, recognizing the need to extend Smart Growth approaches to highly-urbanized and rural locations. These new codes address development pressure in exurban locations, as does Preservation Development. In this context, Preservation Development is an appropriate settlement pattern for the two or three lowest-density landscape types on the transect, and insufficiently dense for the other categories.
Some communities with zoning influenced by tenets of Smart Growth have embraced Preservation Development as an additional tool for managing exurban growth.