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COMPOSITE REPORT - Petition No. 6916 ZNR Work Meeting 8/11/98 Town of Deerfield "In general, I have definite concerns over allowing TDR transfers without any policy guidance. The Town of Deerfield Land Use Plan does not provide for transferring development rights; neither does any other adopted town or county policy document or ordinance. TDR programs should be based on clear, adopted policies and ordinances to avoid challenges that resulting TDR decisions are arbitrary and without basis. Without policy and/or ordinance guidance, it is unclear in what cases the governing body should allow transfers and in what cases it should not. For example, is it appropriate to allow transfers from lands that have limited development potential given environmental constraints? Would it be appropriate to transfer five or ten development rights to a property in an Agricultural Preservation Area if the applicant managed to acquire them? Having clear policies would help address these and a myriad of other potential issues associated with allowing TDR transactions. In short, it will be legally and politically difficult for towns like Deerfield and the County to say "yes" to some proposed transfers and "no"to others without policy guidance. I believe Deerfield and other towns will see more and more of these types of requests if the perception is that towns and County are going to allow TDR transactions without clear policy guidance. While there may be extenuating circumstances in the case of the Noll petition, my professional opinion is that such TDR transactions should be discouraged." III. SUMMARY The Committee has several options. A. To approve the petition restricting all future residential development on the 46 acres of the "sending" land in the Town of Deerfield with the condition that Corporation Counsel review the documents. Clause #1 on page 2 of the TDR agreement should be revised accordingly. B. To postpone the petition and request the owner to provide with a transfer of a"real buildable" area in the agreement. C. To postpone the petition and ask staff to work with the town of Deerfield and draft policy guidelines for future consideration. D. To approve with findings limited to this situation due to extenuating circumstances, with the condition that Corporation Counsel review the documents. E. To deny the petition based on the lack of a TDR program in place and the non- compliance with the town plan.