BOCC raises PAR purchase price to $6,000 per TDR and grants TDR waiver for Calvert Hills Phase 2

Calvert County commissioners voted to open the Purchase and Retirement (PAR) cycle and set a PAR purchase price of $6,000 per transferable development right (TDR), after staff and the Agricultural Preservation Advisory Board presented funding and historical program results.

Planning and Zoning Director Mary Beth Cook told the board the PAR fund and TDR reserve available for FY25 include $10,480,957 for PAR purchases and $603,125 in the TDR reserve. Staff discussed methodology for the PAR recommendation—using USDA agricultural census data and prior program history—and noted past annual sales have varied widely (from dozens to several hundred TDRs in different years). Commissioners debated whether the recommended increase (from $5,500 to $5,800 in the staff paper) would move the market. One commissioner argued a materially higher price might change landowner behavior; staff cautioned that higher public payments could be difficult to justify against market valuations and program rules. The board moved to set the price at $6,000 per TDR and directed staff to open the PAR cycle to receive applications.

Separately, the board considered a developer request from Osprey Property Company seeking a waiver of additional TDR purchases for Calvert Hills Phase 2, a proposed 35-unit affordable rental project in the Prince Frederick Town Center. Planning staff said the project had been substantially advanced under the prior rule set and that the applicant had secured Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and had already arranged to acquire the TDRs needed under prior assumptions. Tyler Grody, executive vice president of Osprey, said the project operates with a waiting list and local partnerships and asked the board to allow grandfathering consistent with the original expectations for the development. The board granted the waiver of 34 additional TDRs required under the present code, noting the project’s status and the applicant’s commitments.

Commissioners discussed program mechanics—including that one TDR is generally equivalent to one acre, that five TDRs are required to build a single-family dwelling under current rules, and that roughly 6,000 TDRs remain certificated but available counts vary. Staff also noted the PAR program is constrained by fiscal-year funding rules and title-processing time, which is why PAR cycles are limited rather than continuously open like the TDR reserve (bank).

The motions to open the PAR cycle at $6,000 per TDR and to grant the Calvert Hills waiver both passed by voice vote.