Barbara L. Hopkins, JD, ASLAExecutive DirectorOctober 27, 2010

1Copies available @www.neighborspacebaltimorecounty.org/Resources.html

• THE VAST MAJORITY OF COUNTY RESIDENTS LIVE WITHIN THE URDL (734,000+)

• POPULATION IS DENSE• OPEN SPACE IS SCARCE

• N/S CREATED IN 2002• MISSION ELEMENTS:o COMMUNITY PARTNERSHPSo PROTECTING “SMALL”

PARKS GARDENS NATURAL AREAS

• FUNDING:o COUNTY ORDINANCE

REQUIRING 1000 SF OF OPEN SPACE/DWELLING UNIT OR PAYMENT OF “FEE IN LIEU.”

o N/S MAY RECEIVE UP TO 10% OF FEES COLLECTED.*

*Baltimore County Code, Section 32-6-108. 2

• “THE LARGEST ESTATE & MOST EXTENSIVE INTEREST THAT CAN BE ENJOYED IN LAND.”*

• VERY FEW RESTRICTIONS ON OWNER’S “BUNDLE OF RIGHTS.”

• A RESTRICTION ON THE OWNER’S RIGHT TO USE THE PROPERTY.

• WITH CONSERVATION EASEMENTS** USE RIGHTS ARE RESTRICTED “IN PERPETUITY.”

* Black’s Law Dictionary, 5th ed.** A conservation easement is a legal agreement between a landowner and a nonprofit land trust and/or government entity

that permanently limits the uses of the land in order to protect specified conservation values.3

TOLLGATE WYNDHAM BRANCHWOOD

PRESERVE

GWYNN OAK AVE

ROBIN HILL RD

HAMPTON LANE

EAST PENN. AVE

GREENBRIER MEMORIAL

EAST AVE

VOLZ PARK

NeighborSpace SitesUrban Rural Demarcation Line (URDL)Council Districts

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TRANSACTION TYPE

POTENTIAL BENEFITS TO L/O RESPONSIBILITIES OF L/T

FEE SIMPLE PURCHASE

• Receives current cash value of total parcel

• Elimination of property taxes

• Baseline documentation• Recruitment/training of

property manager• Annual monitoring• Ongoing

landowner/community manager relationships

• Liability/conservation defense insurance

• Enforcement • Dedication ceremonies• Signs• Brochures• Maps• Fundraising to support

administrative activities• Planning and fundraising

for development, where applicable.

EASEMENT PURCHASE

• Receives current cash value of easement

• Likely reduction in property taxes

FEE SIMPLE DONATION

• Elimination of property taxes• Federal and State income tax

deductions • Federal and State estate/

inheritance tax reductions

EASEMENT DONATION

• Abatement of property taxes (5 yrs, renewable)

• Federal and State income tax deductions

• Federal and State estate/ inheritance tax reductions

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Before After

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Current Conditions

Proposed Plan

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“Principles of the new urbanism … generate development patterns that use land more economically than does prevailing contemporary practice … [but] natural areas have limited or peripheral roles, typically as edges or boundaries to neighborhoods … A more “green” model would create explicit places for nature and ecological functions, integrate them with the development pattern, and balance the competing spatial demands of open space, streets, and land uses within.” p. 14

THE “LINKED NETWORK” PATTERN OF OPEN SPACE

DEVELOPMENT

“The linked network pattern … focuses on a … negotiated distribution and connection of diverse open space elements. Open spaces and connections could be larger, and connections to them more generous, at points of higher environmental value and lesser development value, such as near an important stream corridor. Open spaces could be smaller, and connections to them narrower, at points of high development value and lower environmental value, such as near major roads.” p. 15 9

Coffee Creek Center, Indiana634-acre study area planned for 3,000 dwellings in a series of mixed-use neighborhoods, each with a commercial center, and situated around the Coffee Creek ecological preserve. Partially constructed in 2004. Gross density is 4. 7 dwellings per acre.

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Girling and Kellett, Skinny Streets, pp. 41-44.

For more information, please go to www.neighborspacebaltimorecounty.org or contact Barbara Hopkins @barbara_hopkins@verizon.net or at 443-610-8601.

11

Ellen Dunham Jones on Retrofitting Suburbia