On Friday, April 14th before our Spring Speaker Series event at Golden Ocala, Horse Farms Forever® (HFF) held a Roundtable meeting with a diverse group of 25 community stakeholders to provide feedback on Marion County’s Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) program.

Since the County’s TDR program is a key component in protecting the Farmland Preservation Area (FPA), HFF hired Rick Pruetz, an FAICP professional planner and nationally known expert on TDR programs to evaluate the program to determine why the program is underutilized. Rick compiled his research into a Preliminary Findings Report, which was presented at the Roundtable on April 14th.

HFF decided to focus on the TDR program because while the boundaries of the FPA and the protective language of the HFF Text Amendment are included in Marion County’s Comprehensive Plan, these can both be changed with a 3-2 vote of the County Commission. The only way to permanently protect land from development is with a conservation easement, and the TDR program is one of the programs available to landowners who want to preserve their land.

If a landowner chooses to participate in the TDR program and preserve their land with a conservation easement, they receive Transferable Development Credits (TDCs) which they can sell to another landowner to increase the density of designated lands inside Marion County’s Urban Growth Boundary.

A Well-Rounded Discussion

Members of the TDR Roundtable included top leadership at the County including Marion County Commissioner Michelle Stone, County Administrator Mounir Bouyounes, and Assistant County Administrator Tracy Straub. The Growth Services Department was represented by Director Chuck Varadin, Deputy Director Kenneth Weyrauch, and Senior Planner Christopher Rison. In addition, several land use planners and attorneys, two of the largest landowners, one of the top real estate firms, two HFF Board Members, and a representative from On Top of the World, also participated in the Roundtable discussion.

The goal of the TDR Roundtable was to provide feedback on Rick’s Preliminary Findings Report and to determine if there was consensus to move forward with updating the program.

The Roundtable was facilitated by HFF Founder Member Elisabeth Brinton, former Corporate Vice President of Sustainability at Microsoft, who also owns a horse farm in the FPA. There was a lively discussion about why the program was not working and how it might be improved, but with Elisabeth’s tactful facilitation of the diverse viewpoints, the stakeholders agreed to move forward with Phase 2 of the TDR Review Program.

What We Learned

Some of the feedback from the Roundtable included:

• Creating step down zoning along the Farmland Preservation Area/Urban Growth Boundary
• Making program adjustments in light of Senate Bill 102
• Creating a differentiated value of TDR credits based on the proximity of the land to the Urban Growth Boundary

While Phase 1 focused on providing feedback on the Preliminary Findings Report, Phase 2 will focus on how, and if, to move forward with updates to the TDR program.

Ten Factors for Success

Rick evaluated Marion County’s TDR Program against a framework of the ten factors found in the most successful TDR programs in the United States. He concluded that Marion County’s program ranked high in the public’s support for farmland preservation, but could benefit from work in four of the ten factors.

“Marion County shows strong public support for the preservation of the Farmland Preservation Area, which has been a feature of the County’s Comprehensive Plan for almost two decades,” the Preliminary Findings Report stated.

Out of the ten factors, Rick recommended focusing on four factors that would be most important to the success of the Marion County TDR program:

1. Reduce Ability to Gain Increased Development Potential Without Using TDR
2. Create More Demand for TDR
3. Form a TDR Bank
4. Determine an Effective Price for Transferable Development Credits (TDC)

As part of Phase 2, Rick will compile a Findings Report. This report will incorporate the suggestions from the Roundtable and additional input from the community. Then, sometime in late summer or early fall, HFF will host another TDR Roundtable. This meeting may be a held as a public workshop so that all five of the Marion County Commissioners are able to attend.

The TDR program is one of the tools available to landowners, who want to preserve their farm, but the program needs to be updated in order to transform it into a win-win solution to inspire both landowners and developers to utilize the program.