Farmland Protection | Food Systems | Transfer of Development Rights

The town's zoning bylaw addresses farmland protection. The Farmland Preservation Bylaw (§ XVII) establishes a transfer of development rights program to permanently protect farmland and agricultural soils within the town. It establishes the Agricultural-Residential zone as the Farmland Preservation District, within which all parcels of at least five acres are eligible for TDR; rights may be transferred to the Receiving District of Business and Industrial zones with frontage on designated major roadways within the town. The ordinance describes the process for certifying development rights and the special permit process for transferring those rights, and establishes dimensional and density regulations and design standards for TDR development. The ordinance also establishes an alternate cash contribution method for purchasing agricultural preservation restrictions.