Lumberton Township is located 20 miles east of Philadelphia in Burlington County, New Jersey. As reported in Beyond Takings and Givings, Lumberton was the first community to adopt a TDR program under the State of new Jersey?s Burlington County TDR Demonstration Act. On a one-to-one ratio, rights can be transferred from farmland zoned Rural Agriculture TDR Sending Area. Density can be increased up to eight-fold on land zoned Rural Agriculture/TDR Receiving. Approval of transfers is administrative and the receiving area zoning has specific design standards to ensure compatibility between TDR receiving area developments and the 18th and 19th century architectural themes of historic Lumberton Village.
In 2000, Lumberton reported preserving 563 acres of farmland using TDR. The Township was so pleased with its success that it expanded the TDR program in that year, adding 1,355 acres of sending areas in the east side of the Township to the 1,513 acres of sending area created under the original program in 1995. In April 2004, Municipal Clerk Linda Wills reported that TDR had preserved 850 acres in Lumberton.
One of Lumberton’s more unusual agricultural endeavors is this llama farm.
© Copyright 2004 by Rick Pruetz
