By Shelia Watson
Contributing Writer

Sprawl in the area is a growing concern. Literally. On the SprawlCity.org Web site, which is devoted to tracking instances of sprawl throughout the country, heading the list of factors that have been suggested as the culprit in sprawl are population growth and the land-use and consumption choices.

On the site’s list of 100 cities with a high rate of sprawl per square miles, Charleston is ranked 32nd with a 72.5% population growth rate and 46.6% per capita land consumption.

That alarming data is the impetus for the various comprehensive plans currently in place or being developed by Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties, along with the multitude of public hearings, seminars and workshops devoted to finding a smart-growth technique.

One such promising technique was discussed recently at a special presentation held by the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments.

Douglas Porter, president of the Chevy Chase, Md.-based Growth Management Institute, spoke on the effectiveness of transfer of development rights, known in planning circles as TDRs.

Porter’s presentation outlined transfer of development rights as a growth management tool that would reward landowners for retaining rural uses, allow the sale of density rights to other properties and give developers an incentive to increase densities in the areas that would receive the development rights.

Transfer of development rights allows an owner or developer to develop property in a desired location at a higher-than-normal density in exchange for not developing in other parts of the community.

Rob Caison, COG project manager, said TDRs are something the officials throughout the region should consider as alternative to traditional green-space development.

“This provides a way to capture the development rights and redirect them to other areas,” he said. “It’s better for the economic return on the property, and it’s a really good idea in a historically or environmentally sensitive area. You can ‘amp up’ development in the areas that are suited and preserve the areas that are sensitive.”

Caison explained the process with an example of a property owner with 100 acres who chooses to put fewer homes on the land than what could be developed. The excess development rights can be transferred to an area in another part of town where the limit for density has already been reached.

“It’s a method of redirecting development,” he said. “You’re allowing increase in density for areas that are suited for it.”

Both the “sending area,” owned by the party that has the rights and is willing to transfer them, and the “receiving area,” owned by the party that wishes to obtain the rights for development, must be designated at the local level. In cases where the sending and receiving areas are in different municipal areas, there must also be an intergovernmental agreement before the deal can be made, Caison said.

Jeff Tyndall, director of planning and zoning for Berkeley County, said TDRs will be worked into the county’s comprehensive plan for development and planning, which will help the county manage its growth over the next seven to 10 years.

“Actually, TDRs are similar to the PDRs, the purchase of development rights that we already have in place for open-space preservation, except with the PDRs, we pay to put a conservation easement on a property,” Tyndall said. “The main difference between the two is the funding mechanism—development driven (TDRs) vs. public (or) government driven (PDRs).”

Megan Desrosiers, a program director with the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League, agreed.

“It’s like a lot of good ideas—the devil is in the details,” she said. “Overall, TDRs are good, but they’re very hard to implement. You’re taking density from one area and putting it into another area, but the area where you’re putting it (must) want to receive it and (must) have the infrastructure to support it.”

It would be best if the receiving area were a place where high density is optimal, Desrosiers said.

“But, especially in Charleston, that’s going to be hard to find,” she said. “And when you’re dealing with multiple government agreements, where Charleston has to talk to Mount Pleasant which has to get with Berkeley County, that’s going to make it even harder because no one wants to give anything up.”

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