Jericho, Vermont

The Town of Jericho, population 5,015 (2000), is located 15 miles east of Burlington, in northwestern Vermont. In 1992, the Town adopted a TDR program to preserve prime agricultural land and open space while promoting the creation of villages with a mix of uses and densities appropriate for village character.

In 2009, Jericho adopted a new zoning code which apparently eliminated the original TDR provisions. However, the ordinance in effect in November 2011 contains a mechanism allowing two or more non-contiguous parcels to be developed as one planned unit development (PUD) with one or more of the properties serving as a sending site and the other becoming a receiving site capable of accepting transferred development potential. The ordinance establishes pairs of sending and receiving sites as follow.

Density originating from: May be transferred to:
Forestry District Forestry, Agricultural, Rural Residential, Village, Commercial, and/or Village Center Districts
Agricultural District Agricultural, Rural Residential, Village, Commercial, and/or Village Center Districts
Rural Residential District Rural Residential, Village, Commercial, and/or Village Center Districts
Village District Village, Commercial, and/or Village Center Districts
Commercial District Village, Commercial, and/or Village Center Districts
Village Center District Village Center District

Through the PUD, the amount of development which could be placed on all of the parcels can be concentrated on just the receiving parcel as long as the transfer serves to permanently preserve resources and results in development patterns that implement the goals for the zoning districts underlying the PUD. The conservation easements needed to accomplish the transfer must specify that the sending sites can only be used for open space, agriculture, forestry and passive outdoor recreation. The PUD approval must include deed reference to the easements that generated the development potential transferred to the receiving site project.