Larimer County, population 251,494 (2000), lies 50 miles north of Denver, bordering Wyoming. In the mid 1990s, the County estimated that its zoning allowed 60,000 additional dwellings in rural portions of the County east of the foothills and south of Wellington. The County considered the possibility of transferring development rights from these rural areas to the Growth Management Areas of municipalities where urban densities are desired. As a way to test this approach, the County adopted a resolution in September 1998 creating a "transfer of density units" program for the Fossil Creek Reservoir Area Plan.
Larimer County used TDR to acquire parkland surrounding the Fossil Creek Reservoir.
The transferable density unit (TDU) program for the Fossil Creek Reservoir Area is generally intended to guide growth and implement land use plans. More specifically, it is designed to protect areas that are important to the community including environmental areas, community buffers, corridors for wildlife migration or hiking, agriculture, park sites, historic landmarks and important scenic views. For a complete explanation of the County's TDR procedures, please see Beyond Takings and Givings.
Beyond Takings and Givings stated that the Fossil Creek TDU program had transferred 281 TDUs, resulting in the preservation of three sending areas with a combined area of over 380 acres. In March 2003, Russell Legg, Chief of Planning, reported that by 2001 the program had actually achieved more than that amount: 863 TDUs had transferred resulting in the preservation of 432 acres at an estimated value of $5,450,000 for the sending area parcel protections.
