NEWS ARTICLE
May 30, 2008
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Ten years ago Chesterfield Township, a rural community in northern Burlington County, enacted a Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) ordinance which Clarke Caton Hintz (CCH) designed to channel future residential growth into a new neo-traditional village. The program has been a tremendous success. Not a single major subdivision application for land in the Township's Sending Area has been processed by the Planning Board since TDR was enacted. Instead, virtually all of the residential development during that period has been channeled into the Receiving Area.
Many stakeholders have shared a common vision to make TDR a reality in Chesterfield. While Old York Village has been taking shape, over 6,800 acres of land has been preserved through TDR implementation and the County and State Farmland Preservation Programs.
The Success of the Receiving Area Drives the Success of the Program
When fully developed, Old York Village will consist of up to 1,200 homes in a wide variety of attached and detached models, a new elementary school adjacent to centralized recreational facilities, a network of neighborhood parks, and a mixed use village center with neighborhood retail and convenience uses to serve local market needs.
The Planning Process
In 2002, the Township adopted an amendment to the 1997 Master Plan, which was created with funding assistance by a Department of Community Affairs Smart Growth Grant. The new TDR plan refined the planning for circulation, recreation, open space, commercial, civic, and residential components of the Planned Village within the Receiving Area.
Site planning and architectural design standards were then adopted to ensure the design of buildings and the relationship among them echoes traditional American building styles and development patterns.
Receiving Area Infrastructure
Developing infrastructure to provide for sewer service and potable water was a significant accomplishment in the TDR process. The Township created a new Wastewater Management Plan (WWMP), which was approved by the NJDEP in 1999, to provide sewer service to the Receiving Area. A total of $5.7 million was bonded through the Environmental Infrastructure Trust Fund. The 1999 WWMP also coordinated a water franchise area for potable water for the Receiving Area.
COAH
All of the Township's affordable housing is being constructed within the Receiving Area and integrated architecturally with the market rate housing units. Affordable housing in Chesterfield has taken the form of twins and quads, in buildings which approximate the scale of single family detached houses, row houses and apartments over shops.
Outside Agency Support
Chesterfield has consistently received critical financial and technical support from Burlington County, The State of New Jersey Department of Community Affairs and Environmental Protection. This assistance was pivotal, particularly given the Chesterfield's small tax base and limited resources.
Recognition of Chesterfield's Planning
Chesterfield Township's TDR program and Village Plan have been recognized with a 2004 national planning award from the American Planning Association and with awards from the American Society of Landscape Architects (NJ Chapter), New Jersey Future, the NJ Department of Environmental Protection and the American Planning Association (NJ Chapter).
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For more information please contact:
Philip Caton, PP, AICP, or Lisa Specca, PP, AICP
(609) 883-8383
Email: pcaton@cchnj.com or lspecca@cchnj.com
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