This article establishes an equitable method for the preservation of designated areas and resources in the Township of West Vincent through the establishment of a transferable development rights (TDR) program. The TDR program provides an opportunity to landowners in designated areas to preserve land through the option of selling some or all of the development rights associated with their land in lieu of development and an opportunity to certain other landowners in areas of the municipality designated suitable for development with the option of increasing the density of development of their land with the acquisition of such development rights.

It is the specific purpose of the Township of West Vincent to implement the provisions of the Municipalities Planning Code, Section 604,[1] to:

Authority. The transferable development rights program is established in accordance with Section 605(4) of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 1968, P.L. 805, Act 247, as reenacted and amended.[1] By authority of this Act, development rights shall be a separate estate in land and declared severable and separately conveyable from the estate in fee simple.

Concept recognition. The Township Board of Supervisors hereby recognizes the severability and transferability of development rights from certain lands within the Township to be transferred and used in accordance with the provision herein. The TDR program is recognized as a voluntary agreement under the terms of this article between a willing buyer and a willing seller and shall be governed by the following principles:

Eligibility. transferable development rights are recognized and established for any tract of land within the Township.

Net TDR tract area calculation. The net TDR tract area from which development rights are determined shall be defined as the adjusted tract acreage and subtracting the following additional areas:

Number of rights. The number of transferable development rights to be assigned to an eligible tract of land shall be established by the following procedure:

Monitoring of rights.

Right to develop. The owner of a tract of land eligible for the transfer of development rights who has not sold such rights has the right to utilize and develop such tract in accordance with all applicable provisions of this chapter; Chapter 316, Subdivision and Land Development, of the Code; and all other applicable Township regulations.

Sale of rights. Development rights, as calculated in § 390-198 above, may be conveyed to any person or legal entity or equitable owner of tracts of land within any designated receiving zone, held for future sale or conveyance, or sold or donated to the Township, the county, a conservancy or land trust.

Deed of transfer of development rights. The development rights conveyed shall be described in a deed or agreement in recordable form, designating the owner of the tract of land in the sending zone as the "sender" and the owner or equitable owner in the receiving zone as the "receiver." The agreement(s) necessary to effectuate such conveyance shall be subject to the approval and endorsement of the Township Board of Supervisors, and further shall be recorded with the Chester County Recorder of Deeds. The receiver shall obtain a sample deed or agreement of transfer of development rights from the Township. Said deed or agreement must be endorsed by the Board of Supervisors prior to recording. Prior to approval of any transfer of development rights, the Township Engineer shall certify that the net acreage so restricted is sufficient to meet the requirements of the number of development rights conveyed, as well as that the number of development rights being transferred comports with the requirements of this chapter.

Title report. The deed or agreement shall be accompanied by a title report and plan, showing such detail as may be required by the Township to demonstrate that such lands are free of restrictions prescribed in § 390-198.

Restrictive covenant agreement. Upon the sale, reservation or banking of development rights, the sender shall enter into a restrictive covenant agreement with the Township, which shall be recorded with the Chester County Recorder of Deeds. The covenant agreement shall:

Eligibility. Transferable development rights may be applied to tracts of land within receiving zones, in addition to rights established under the base zoning district. The following eligibility criteria shall apply to receiving zones as defined by this article:

Transfer of rights. Landowners in receiving zones have the right to build the following for each development right purchased, up to the maximum development capacity of the receiving zone:

Maximum development capacity. The maximum development capacity when the developer purchases additional rights in accordance with provisions of this article shall be as follows:

Applicable area and bulk requirements. Applicants using transferable development rights in the R-3 and R-2 Residential Districts may reduce the amount of required greenway land up to 10%, reduce the minimum lot area and bulk requirements by up to 10%, or by a combination of these approaches, at the discretion of the Board of Supervisors.

No residual parcel for which development rights remain shall be created unless in conformance with the applicable base zoning district or "default setting" lot size and dimensional requirements.

All subdivision plans for the residual parcel shall include the remaining number of development rights assigned to the unencumbered parcel based on the required base zoning district or "default setting" lot size and dimensional requirements. The subdivision plan for the residual parcel is not required to be a fully engineered preliminary and/or final plan, as defined by Chapter 315, Subdivision and Land Development, of the Township's Code, and may be in the form of a sketch plan only.

Resources covered by restrictive covenant agreement.

The Township and landowner shall identify by mutual consent the building envelope locations for any retained development rights.