Statement on Land Protection Priorities
The discussion of potential Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) programs at the Rural Areas Subcommittee meeting November 20, 2008 highlighted the need to define one or more specific “sending districts” within the land zoned Rural Areas. These sending districts would represent land deemed a high priority for permanent conservation, achieved by the transfer of development rights to an area targeted for more intensive land uses.
SVN, the Potomac Conservancy, the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, Preserve Frederick, and the Valley Conservation Council gathered to craft a vision of where Frederick County might create sending districts for a TDR program and to help inform a local Purchase of Development Rights (PDR) program.
Our recommendations apply only to those parcels currently zoned Rural Areas. We agreed that priority criteria, rather than lines or parcels on a map, would allow the County to fine tune the recommendations.
Finally, we agreed that the sale of development rights in a sending district under a TDR program or the purchase of development rights through a PDR program, must feature a permanent conservation easement, of the same high quality required for a donated conservation easement under standards set by the federal IRS, the Virginia Outdoors Foundation and the Virginia Department of Conservation [ Recreation.
Potential TDR Sending Districts/Priority Lands for Conservation.
We recommend the creation of two primary sending districts in Frederick County:
- The Cedar Creek watershed]
- The Opequon watershed.
These two watersheds encompass some of the most critical natural and historic resources in Frederick County: drinking watersheds vital to county residents, including sensitive karst lands; prime agricultural soils and large forest blocks, including agricultural and forestal districts; public lands, including the George Washington National Forest, Cedar Creek Battlefield and Third Winchester Battlefield; and land protected by donated or purchased conservation easements.
Within the two primary sending districts, we recommend the following criteria to establish which parcels should be eligible to sell or transfer development rights. Only parcels which meet at least one of the following criteria will be eligible to participate in a TDR or PDR program, ensuring that the County is protecting the most strategic and vital lands. The criteria are as follows:
- Parcels currently zoned RA (as noted above);
- Blocks of land greater than 100 acres;
- Parcels containing 50 percent or more of prime or statewide important agricultural soils;
- Parcels containing 100 acres or more of contiguous mixed hardwood forest;
- Land within the designated core areas of the Cedar Creek or Third Winchester battlefields (no minimum size);
- Parcels of at least 50 acres adjacent to public lands, including the GW National Forest;
- Parcels of at least 50 acres adjacent to land already under conservation easement.
Second Tier Potential Sending Districts/Priority Lands
The Rural Areas Subcommittee may wish to recommend a second tier of potential sending
districts to reflect the growing clusters of protected lands outside of the two key watersheds.
These are areas with a combination of public land and private land under conservation easement.
Small sending districts could be drawn around the following clusters of already protected land. These should employ the same criteria for land protection as the primary sending districts:
- Sleepy Creek
- Hogue Creek
- Lucas Woods Preserve/Tuscarora Trail
- Red Bud Run
- Second Winchester Battlefield
- First Kernstown Battlefield
Additional Resources
Links Referenced
- Memorandum to Frederick Board of Supervisors' Rural Areas Subcommittee (PDF)
- http://www.svnva.org/index.cfm/8,124,314,10/fc_rural_sending_districts.pdf
Location
http://www.svnva.org/index.cfm/1,124,314,0,html
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