City of Milton Advances Transfer of Development Rights

Milton is charging ahead with the Transfer of Development Rights Program (TDR). The program was established to restrict the development that can occur within the city to concentrated areas that have been deemed suitable for dense growth. In turn, this helps to protect large tracts of land from ever being developed in the future.

Fulton County, one of the first in the Southeast to create a TDR ordinance, in 2003, allows for two different procedures by which a land owner can file a TDR. The first, “

  • When owners volunteer their properties as open space TDR sending sites, they propose to retain fee ownership of the property but record an easement that permanently limits the density of residential development that can occur on site.
  • If a property owner instead wants to explore the possibility of transferring title to the city for use as park, green-way, trail or civic space TDR sending sites, they propose to transfer ownership of that land to the City of Milton.”

This TDR program has been implemented in Milton in areas such as Crabapple and Deerfield and have proven very successful. The choice to participate in TDR is completely voluntary, but is permanent when made. The restrictions state that only one dwelling place per parcel less than fifty acres may be on the property. The establishment of this program has put a limit on the amount of development that can occur in the city of Milton, therefore; competition for the development rights has increased.

For more information on the TDR program in Milton, click HERE