Township one of six in state to receive $60,000 planning grant.
By: Kara Fitzpatrick
MONTGOMERY The state Department of Community Affairs on Thursday presented the township, along with five other New Jersey municipalities, with a $60,000 planning grant and a pledge of assistance to make a Transfer of Development Rights program a success.
The township will serve as a model community for TDR a smart-growth strategy that allows a municipality to shift the right to develop from one property or area of town to another.
The program is intended to direct growth and development in appropriate areas while still providing landowners with a rightful monetary return. The TDR concept is commonly applied in densely populated suburban areas and is designed to preserve open space amid suburban sprawl.
In this instance, township officials said, the strategy will be implemented in an effort to preserve the Sourland Mountain region.
"Montgomery is very, very proud to be chosen as a TDR demonstration community," said Mayor Louise Wilson.
Through the program, developers purchase the rights to build in a "receiving area" an area targeted for growth. The funding is then used to permanently preserve land in a "sending area" open space, farmland or historic resources, for example. Development rights are assigned to property owners in the sending areas based on how much their property would be worth if development were permitted there. The property owners then are authorized to transfer development rights at a market-driven price to anyone interested in building in receiving areas.
The township has identified the Sourland area as its sending zone. The building credits within that region will be sent to the tract of land referred to as "the Belle Mead node."
That 150-acre tract, located across Route 206 from the Pike Run development, has been chosen to undergo a planning and design initiative to determine how it can best be utilized.
"At its heart, the Transfer of Development Rights is an investment in our future, changing the way development occurs in a community by preserving open space and focusing development in the right places," said Susan Bass Levin, Department of Community Affairs commissioner.
The initiative will offer communities assistance in preserving farmland, historic buildings and resources while still offering landowners fair compensation and painting a clear picture of where building is permitted, said Ms. Levin.
"It is truly a win, win, win for New Jersey residents," said Ms. Levin.
The TDR strategy has been implemented successfully in the New Jersey Pinelands and a number of Burlington County municipalities, but legislation passed in March has made the smart-growth tool accessible statewide.
The program is also being undertaken in states such as New York, Colorado and California.
"If we’ve learned one thing in Montgomery over the past few years, it is that managing change and taking charge of your future as a community is difficult, complicated, time-consuming and not cheap," said Mayor Wilson.
"But we also know that not managing change, not planning wisely, is far more costly to taxpayers, drivers and the environment," said Mayor Wilson, who gave the closing remarks during yesterday’s ceremony.
Planning Board Chair Steve Sacks-Wilner, who has been an advocate of the TDR program and, according to Mayor Wilson, instrumental in its fruition, said he is "absolutely delighted" that the township was selected to serve as a demonstration municipality.
"On the one hand, it is recognition of the value and validity of what we’re doing, what we’re planning and the quality of our planning process. On the other hand, it’s money," said Mr. Sacks-Wilner.
Mr. Sacks-Wilner added that the township’s TDR expertise will serve as a useful resource for other communities interested in pursuing the tactic for planning.
Washington Township, Fanwood Borough, Berkeley Township, Woolwich Township and Hopewell Township in Cumberland County were also selected as TDR demonstration communities. Each received $60,000 from the DCA.
"All of this is about protecting quality of life, preserving our most precious resources and positioning New Jersey our families, neighborhoods, schools and businesses to thrive for generations to come," Mayor Wilson said during her closing remarks.

