How the Sustaining Community Lands Program Works
The Sustaining Community Lands Program combines existing planning tools, such as Planned Unit Developments
[PUD’s], Taxing Districts, and transfers of development rights [TDR’s] with familiar conservation practices, innovative
funding, and a Community Land Conservancy in a more effective approach to acquiring and maintaining Community Lands on a more
functional scale.
Current System
When a project is approved as a PUD, the government requires the developer to create a master plan for open
space and to establish a Property Owners Association [POA] and/or a Taxing District to own, operate, and manage the open spaces.
Elected POA or Taxing District Boards pay for the operation and management of the open space
by collecting assessments or taxes from property owners within the development.
Limitations of Current System
The current system does not effectively provide for the long term protection of green space or restoration
of environmental lands.
It relies on POA members and elected officials with no biological training and potential conflicts of interest
to enforce compliance with environmental mandates.
It jeopardizes effective maintenance of conservation areas by involving them in POA and Taxing District politics
created by competition for funding.
The land may be redesignated to a different use in the future if the POA members, Taxing District and the
local government agree.
It does not encourage or support community-wide open-space planning, because each PUD or Taxing
District is an entirely separate entity and planning project that isolates its conservation lands from the larger systems
in which they should be functioning.
The Strengths of a Sustaining Community Lands Program
A Sustaining Community Lands Program addresses these weaknesses and offers new conservation and community-building
opportunities. It is also effective in both single-owner projects and multiple-owner Planning Areas.
While the rules that will govern a multiple-owner Planning Area or a specific PUD are being
developed, Sustaining Community Lands, Inc., helps the Community identify lands to be dedicated to Community Purposes, helps
create a not-for-profit "Conservancy" or "Trust" made up of people from the broader local community, and helps negotiate agreements
giving the SCL Conservancy – rather than the POA or Taxing District - an ownership interest in those lands and the responsibility
for managing them.
In lieu of POA assessments and taxes, the SCL Conservancy is given a non-political, dedicated
funding source, such as a transfer fee, that is linked to the development which was required to set aside the open space
· The funds are collected through covenants that run with the properties designated for development in the
PUD or Taxing District.
· Because the funding is dedicated and automatic, it is neither reliant on any political entity nor subject
to conflicts or competition.
Because a SCL Conservancy is a not-for-profit, it may increase its funding through grants and
traditional fundraising activities, and it may partner with other entities, such as cities, counties or other non-profits,
to increase the number of available grants.
SCL Conservancies engage the people who make up the Community in property restoration and educate
them on the value of conserving the lands within their neighborhoods, towns and/or regions. This gives them a sense of place
and inspiration that makes the conservation lands part of their Community identity.
Because SCL Conservancies are governed by people from the entire Community, rather than governed
solely by property owners in a single development or area, they may be linked with more than one development and may function
outside individual development boundaries.
· This creates economies of scale that make it possible to hire professional biologists and
land managers to design and carry out restoration projects on both large and small projects with valuable conservation lands.
· SCL Conservancies that are dedicated to conserving prime habitat and important ecological
lands can motivate Communities to develop Open-Space and Conservation Master Plans and programs.
· SCL Conservancies can also help implement Community Lands Plans by acquiring additional lands
that are outside of PUD boundaries to create linkages between preserve areas in isolated projects.
· Where there are Transfer of Development Rights [TDR] Programs, sending-site management may be funded by
receiving-site development in perpetuity.
Because SCL Conservancies are non-profit agencies enjoying IRS benefits linked to an ownership interest in
open space and conservation lands, they are mandated to keep
those lands from being converted to other uses in the future and have the power to do
so.
