The Town of Pittsford, population 27,219 (2000), is located in Monroe County, ten miles southeast of Rochester, New York. In 1996, the Town completed a program for implementing its comprehensive plan. This program, called the Greenprint, evaluated the Town's natural assets and called for the permanent preservation of 2,000 acres of the best agricultural, ecological, scenic and open space resources remaining in the community. According to a Greenprint Analysis Map created in 2004, 1,439 acres have already been protected, primarily through a purchase of development rights program. The Greenprint stated that 800 acres should be protected through incentive zoning and "50-50" zoning, which requires designation of 50 percent of a development site for conservation purposes. The incentive zoning option offers various alternatives including TDR.
To qualify for one of the incentives provided in Pittsford's code, developers can chose to provide any of seven different community benefits including the placement of conservation easements on agricultural, open space, scenic, ecological or historic lands.
In return for providing one of the community benefits listed in the code, Pittsford's incentive zoning allows increases of up to 100 percent in residential density within portions of the Rural Residential District (RRAA) and the Suburban Residential District (SRAA). The other incentives offered include changes in required lot area, changes in use, reduction/elimination of the recreation fee, reduction of road construction standards and the ability to locate required open space on a separate parcel of land.
In a letter of April 2005, Martin W. Brewster, Director Planning, Zoning & Development, advised that the Town had adopted a new zoning district called the Rural Residential South Pittsford (RRSP) for lands south of the New York State Thruway. Developers of 20-acre or larger parcels in the RRSP zone are allowed to go from a maximum density of one unit per five acres to as high as one unit per acre by meeting specific criteria for amenities as presented in the South of the Thruway Update to the Town of Pittsford Comprehensive Plan. These seven criteria include the preservation of agricultural lands, the protection of significant open space resources including farmland and wildlife habitat and the adaptive reuse of farm structures, barns and surrounding pastures.
