San Juan, population 400,000, is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, a US territory. In 2008, the city adopted a TDR program to promote the preservation of historic landmarks, farmland and natural reserves. The city targeted the 3,000-acre southern green belt as one of its key sending areas.

According to Dunn (2012) the program does not permit private sector transfers but rather operates a TDR bank that collects cash in lieu from receiving area developers who need TDRs to achieve a desired level of development. The accounting and eventual disposition of money collected by the TDR bank was the subject of an article for the Fund for Investigative Journalism (Martinez, 2013). According to that article, Carmen Yulin Cruz, who became the mayor of San Juan in 2013, promised to review the program but information on this review is not yet available.

Dunn, C., Peters, J., Phillips, A., and Spencer, D. Establishing TDR Credit Values for the Karst Region of Puerto Rico. Retrieved on 12-31-13 from http://www.wpi.edu/Pubs/E-project/Available/E-project-050212-153248/unrestricted/Establishing_TDR_Credit_Values_in_the_Karst_Regions_of_Puerto _Rico.pdf.

Martinez, Elivan. The Secret Tax of San Juan. Center for Investigative Journalism in Puerto Rico. Retrieved on 12-31-13 from http://jij.org/the-secret-tax-of-San-Juan/.