The commune of Longeville-sur-Mer, population 2,300, is located on the Atlantic coast in the Vendee department of the Pays de la Loire region in western France about 75 miles south of Nantes. This small resort town’s coastal dune forest was designated for development in 1980. However, at the urging of private landowners, the commune switched to a policy of preserving these coastal forests in 1986. In 1993, the commune also adopted a TDR program. A zone of 100 to 500 meters from the shore is now designated as “remarkable natural areas” pursuant to the Coastal Law (Art. L 146-6) and development is prohibited. This Natural Area classification includes 600 privately-owned properties which are awarded transferable development rights. Behind the Natural Area zone, privately-owned properties can be developed and also serve as TDR receiving areas.

Receiving sites gain additional density by transferring development rights from the sending area under three conditions: the receiving site must be at least 800 square meters in size; the receiving site project must buy at least half of the floor area from the sending site(s) involved; and the receiving site project must be integrated with a development at least one hectare (10,000 square meters) in size.

TDR sales in this program were slow until the sending area landowners gradually realized that the Coastal Act had permanently rendered their properties unbuildable. Its first ten years, the Longeville-sur-Mer TDR program experienced five transactions resulting in the development of 60 lots in the receiving areas. In these years, development rights sold for about 66 euros per square meter of transferred floor area

Daligaux, J. and Minvielle, P. (2012) Resurrected transfer COS! To protect farmland. Property Studies. Accessed on December 30, 2013 from http://www.etudesfoncieres.fr/2012/05/ressuscitions-le-transfert-de-cos-pour-proteger-les-terres-agricoles.