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An East Hempfield Township resident who opposed Independence, the high-density, 3,000-home development blocked by supervisors early this year, posed a question.
"Where's the tradeoff?" she asked. "Where's the farmland being preserved?"
Promoters of "smart growth" have argued for years that dense building in designated urban growth areas will relieve pressure to develop farmland.
But critics have asked for proof.
There is only one guaranteed way to link dense growth and farmland protection, according to preservation experts. That's a transfer of development rights from farmland to land set aside for development.
Such transfers, known as TDRs, weren't in the mix in East Hempfield because the township has no provision for them.
"When you have a TDR program, you have both sides of the equation," explains Karen Martynick, who directs the Lancaster Farmland Trust. "You actually create a system that preserves the land and provides for greater density."
TDRs have been around for nearly two decades but haven't been used much.
That's about to change, proponents hope.
The Brandywine Conservancy, of Chester County, in conjunction with county and township officials here, has produced "The Lancaster County TDR Practitioner's Handbook."
The inch-thick handbook is intended to break through the complexity that has sometimes hindered participation in TDR programs. It includes an easy-to-read explanation of how TDRs work, discussion of successful TDR programs and a basic TDR ordinance that can be modified to fit individual municipalities.
In March, the Lancaster Farmland Trust and the county's Agricultural Preserve Board hosted meetings designed to introduce the handbook and promote TDRs to municipal representatives. The meetings were well attended.
"We have some momentum going on this," says Dean Severson, the county's chief agricultural planner. "More people are becoming aware of TDRs and municipalities are looking at ways to control growth."
Greatly simplified, this is how TDRs work.
A township establishes an area of farmland it wants to preserve as a "sending area." It also sets aside an urban growth area for dense development. This is a "receiving area."
Farmers in the sending area must preserve their land with an agricultural easement at the time they sell their TDRs to a township or the Lancaster Farmland Trust or the Agricultural Preserve Board.
Developers who purchase land in a receiving area pay for those TDRs so they can build at a higher density than zoning would otherwise permit.
While farmers receive money in exchange for their right to develop their land, developers increase profits by building more densely.
Growth is channeled to designated areas.
Farmland is preserved.
Lancaster County leads the state in the number of agricultural acres preserved through TDRs, although that number remains tiny compared with total acres of farmland saved here.
Of more than 79,000 acres of county farmland preserved as of the end of April, 1,890 acres — 2.4 percent — include TDRs.
Six townships have adopted TDR ordinances, but only four have used them. Other townships are examining the possibilities, handbook in hand.
Experts say TDRs should be used more widely because they directly connect denser development to land preservation. And they help to make more money available for buying preservation easements.
"It would be wonderful if every farm that was preserved included a TDR transaction," says Matt Knepper, director of the Agricultural Preserve Board. "It's a great way to link higher development 'here' to farmland preservation over 'there."'
Warwick Township
In Lancaster County, Warwick Township leads the way with more than 900 acres saved through TDRs. Severson calls Warwick the "model" program for the county.
But Warwick is exemplary beyond the county.
The township has saved more acres through TDRs than any other county in Pennsylvania. And its TDR program is among the top 20 in the nation.
Warwick's first TDR transaction involved Heart of Lancaster Regional Medical Center. The hospital purchased TDRs so that it could build its new facility in a 150-acre campus industrial zoning district.
That's the township's only receiving area. Warwick requires that everyone building there acquire TDRs.
In a little more than a decade, the township has channeled a dozen farms through the TDR program. That's 961 acres. The program expects to add another 344 acres by the end of the year.
Warwick began promoting TDRs as a way to move its farmers up on the long list of county farms waiting to be preserved.
The county looks kindly on farms enrolled in a TDR program because developers who purchase TDRs wind up paying part of the county's bill to preserve those farms. And that frees up more money for the county to use in buying easements on other farmland.
Since Warwick got serious about TDRs in 1996, according to township Manager Dan Zimmerman, only one landowner who preserved his farm decided not to participate in the TDR program as well.
"It's no different than participating in the regular (farmland preservation) program," Zimmerman explains. "It's just a different piece of paper."
Zimmerman says the TDR handbook he helped design should be easy to understand as well.
"We routinely called it 'The Dummy's Handbook to TDRs,"' he says.
Manheim Township
Manheim Township, with TDRs now covering 437 preserved acres, created the first TDR program in the county in 1991.
Unlike other municipalities with similar programs, Manheim Township encourages farmers and developers to work out their own deals.
That's what happened at The Crossings at Conestoga Creek, the huge shopping complex planned across Harrisburg Pike from Long's Park. High Real Estate purchased TDRs directly from farmers to increase the project's allowable density.
Nelson Rohrer, a Manheim Township farmer and former supervisor, says those farmers did not receive adequate compensation for their TDRs.
But he says that should change in the future.
"If farmers can stand their ground and developers can't develop without the use of TDRs, we'll come to a common ground and the whole system will work," he suggests.
The system ideally should not operate that way, says Martynick. It doesn't work that way in other townships.
"When a developer needs TDRs, they buy them from us or a township," she explains. "We work with the township to set the price. The price is the same for all the TDRs."
If a township or preservation organization is involved in the transaction, she adds, the money paid by the developer goes back into farmland preservation. Otherwise, as in Manheim Township, the landowner gets the money.
West Hempfield Township
West Hempfield Township has sold TDRs on 345 acres. Charles Douts, township manager, believes TDRs are the responsible way to proceed.
"Most municipalities are sticking their head in the sand saying it's the county's responsibility to save farms," he says. "We as municipalities have a responsibility."
Douts maintains that the township provides a necessary mechanism to exchange higher density for land preservation.
"If you're just going to give away your higher density, tell me how you're going to save farms?" he asks.
Diane Frame, of Keystone Custom Homes, has purchased TDRs to allow greater density for two small developments in West Hempfield. She endorses TDRs as an essential aspect of smart growth.
"It's easier for people to understand denser development if they're giving something up but tangibly getting something in return," she says. "In East Hempfield, the return was nebulous."
West Lampeter Township
West Lampeter had a TDR program that wasn't working, so the township rewrote the ordinance last year.
It turned over the program to the Lancaster Farmland Trust, which preserved 147 acres carrying TDRs in December. The Trust eventually will sell these TDRs to developers and use the proceeds to preserve more township farms.
"It's a win-win for everyone," says township manager Ray D'Agostino. "We need to do more of this partnering at all levels to meet the county's goal of preserving farmland."
Other townships are beginning to show an interest in TDR programs, according to Severson. Earl and East Earl townships are examining the handbook and collecting information from townships with TDR programs.
And Independence-rejecting East Hempfield may include TDRs as it revises its zoning rules.
"I think TDRs are a good tool to save farmland and open space," says Bob Krimmel, East Hempfield's manager. "I think they will be useful in how we move forward."
3 WAYS TO SAVE FARMLAND
• Sell conservation easements to county Agricultural Preserve Board or Lancaster Farmland Trust. Farmland preserved.
• Sell easements and transfer development rights from farmer to developer, who builds at greater density. Farmland preserved and development contained.
• Build denser housing developments without a preservation link. Farmland may or may not be preserved.
FARMLAND SAVED USING TDRS
• Warwick Township: 961 acres.
• Manheim Township: 437 acres.
• West Hempfield Township: 345 acres.
• West Lampeter Townnship: 147 acres.
Staff writer Jack Brubaker can be reached at jbrubaker@LNPnews.com or 291-8781.
