DEVELOPMENT RIGHTS PURCHASE S.B. 573 (S-4): FLOOR ANALYSIS
Senate Bill 573 (Substitute S-4 as reported) Sponsor: Senator Bill Schuette
Committee: Local, Urban and State Affairs
The bill would amend the County Rural Zoning Enabling Act (which the bill would rename the “County Zoning Act”) to provide that, in order to protect agricultural land, a county board of commissioners could adopt a development rights ordinance limited to the establishment, financing, and administration of a “PDR program” (a program for the purchase of development rights, i.e., the rights to develop land to the maximum intensity of development authorized by law). Under a PDR program, a county could purchase development rights only from a willing landowner. A county could not purchase development rights subject to a city, village, or township zoning ordinance unless specific requirements were met. A development rights ordinance would have to contain specific information, including the intensity of development permitted and the circumstances under which a landowner could repurchase development rights.
A PDR program and the administration of a development rights authority could be financed through general appropriations by the county, proceeds from the sale of development rights, grants, donations, bonds or notes issued by the county board, general fund revenue, and other sources approved by the county board and permitted by law.
A development rights ordinance could establish a development rights authority to exercise some or all of the county’s powers and duties under the bill and the ordinance, although the purchase and sale of development rights would be subject to the county board’s approval, and only the county could issue bonds and notes and enter into intergovernmental agreements.
A county board also could enter into an intergovernmental agreement for the creation of a joint development rights authority to implement agreements between counties, cities, villages, and townships for the purchase of development rights, including cross-jurisdictional purchase.
MCL 125.231 et al. Legislative Analyst: S. Margules
Local units that adopted an ordinance authorizing the purchase of development rights would experience an indeterminate fiscal impact. The purchase of development rights could involve an authority that could purchase, hold, or sell development rights. The authority or local unit would incur the cost of compensating authority members for actual and reasonable expenses.
The bill would have no State fiscal impact.
Date Completed: 5-21-96 Fiscal Analyst: R. Ross
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This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.