Owners of property in the Preservation Area of the Highlands Region may apply to the Highlands Development Credit Bank to sell development credits under the Highlands Council's TDR program.  Certain property owners may be eligible to sell their HDCs to the HDC Bank.

Selling development credits, including those to be sold to the HDC Bank, is a two-step process. The first step is to submit an application for an HDC Allocation from the Highlands Council. An estimated HDC allocation range is available through the Highlands Council's Estimator Tool. For those seeking to sell their HDCs to the HDC Bank, the second step, after receiving an HDC Allocation from the Council, is to submit an application for a HDC Certificate to the HDC Bank for the Bank to potentially make an offer to purchase allocated HDCs.

• Download the Highlands Council Allocation Application (pdf)
• Download the Allocation Reconsideration Application (pdf)
• Download the HDC Bank Certification Application (pdf)
• TDR Program Deeds of Easement

For additional information regarding the Highlands TDR Program, please call the Highlands Council at (908) 879-6737.

While the Highlands Council is responsible for determining the number of HDCs that a property is entitled to receive under the TDR program, the Bank issues HDC Certificates which entitle a property owner to sell, convey or otherwise transfer any HDCs that have been allocated to their property. Through the certificate process, the HDC Bank certifies the number of HDCs allocated to a property, confirms that the owner has marketable title to the property, and ensures that a deed of easement is recorded against a property for its protection in perpetuity.

Initial Purchase Program

During the initial phase of the Highlands TDR Program, as voluntary receiving zones are established that support private purchase of HDCs, the HDC Bank is playing a crucial role as the primary purchaser of HDCs. The Bank’s Initial Purchase Program allows willing landowners in the Highlands Preservation Area to apply for an allocation of HDCs and an HDC certificate and, if eligible, to deed restrict their land from future development in exchange for funding from the HDC Bank. In support of this role, the HDC Bank broadened its priority acquisition categories beyond hardship circumstances and held a third, fourth, and fifth round of acquisition consideration. (The same criteria will apply to the Fifth Round.) Under these rounds, the Bank considered purchasing HDCs from property owners that satisfy the requirements of one of the following categories, provided that the appropriate information or documentation is given to the Highlands Council for evaluation with the HDC Allocation Application:

1. The property owner is experiencing extenuating financial circumstances, including but not limited to imminent bankruptcy, extraordinary medical expenses, or loss of job;
2. A proposed project on the property just missed qualifying for Exemption #3 under the Highlands Act;
3. A proposed project on the property qualified for Exemption #3, but that exemption has since expired;
4. The property is located within the Special Environmental Zone of the Highlands Preservation Area as designated by the Highlands Council in the Regional Master Plan; or
5. The property is located within a High Value Agricultural Priority Area as designated by the Highlands Council in the Regional Master Plan.

For the fourth and fifth categories above, a property owner must have applied for participation in a preservation program administered by the State or a local government unit (together “Public Agency”) no earlier than August 10, 2004, and which application was rejected by the appropriate Public Agency or was deemed ineligible for participation based upon the requisite program’s eligibility criteria. Information or documentation to be provided to the Highlands Council in support of qualifying under any of the above acquisition priority categories is listed in the HDC Allocation Application.

The TDR Initial Purchase Program was made possible by the appropriation of $10 million to the HDC Bank in September 2008 through Executive Order 114. During the first four rounds of acquisition consideration, the HDC Bank has authorized $7,966,500 in funding to acquire HDCs from property owners that qualified based upon the Bank’s priority acquisition categories. Should the offers to these property owners all result in the closing of a Highlands TDR deed of easement, the TDR program will have addressed over 500 acres in the first four rounds. The HDC Bank has approximately $1,000,000 in remaining funds to be applied to qualified property owners during the fifth round of acquisition consideration.

• Highlands Development Credit Tracking Sheet (pdf)

In support of the Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) program, the Highlands Council created a TDR Receiving Zone Feasibility Grant Program that provides both financial and technical assistance to those municipalities that wish to explore the possibility of designating a TDR receiving zone in their community. Any municipality in the State is eligible to serve as a voluntary TDR receiving zone. Participation in the grant program requires a commitment by a municipality to fully evaluate the feasibility and desirability of designating a receiving zone, but does not obligate a municipality to establish such a zone.

• TDR Feasibility Grant Application (pdf)
• TDR Grant Program Overview (pdf)