Sliding Scale is one method the county uses to decrease the density of development
in the A-1 Agricultural District. It is not used in other zoning districts
in the County.
The maximum gross density is the maximum number of lots one can create by
subdividing a parent parcel. Each parcel in the county, which existed when
the current zoning law was passed (12/13/99) is considered a parent parcel.
In the A-1 Agricultural District, the maximum number of lots one can create
is determined by the amount of land in each parent parcel. (see figure 1)
For example, if you have up to 10.0 acres of land, you can subdivide that
land into three lots. A lot must be at least one (1) acre in size. So, if
your parent parcel is only 2.3 acres, you will only be able to create two
lots.
How you subdivide your parent parcel depends on the size of lots you want
to create (see figure 2), on the number of lot assignments you want to assign
to each lot, and on the availability of an onsite water supply and and adequate
wastewater treatment (which may further limit the number of lots).
Lots which have been created from a parent parcel can not be further subdivided
unless more than one lot assignment was made to the parcel during the initial
subdivision of the property.
For example, say a landowner has a 100 acre parent parcel and would like
to subdivide the parcel into two lots, one with 40 acres and one with 60 acres.
The original parent parcel was allowed 8 lots. The landowner could stipulate
that the 40 acre parcel is given six lot assignments and the 60 acre parcel
is given two lot assignments. The assignment of lots can add up but not exceed
the maximum number of lots allowed for the original parent parcel.
John
Smith has a 58 acre farm. While he still wants to let his daughter farm the
majority of the land, he wants to sell off some parcels in order to help fund
his retirement.
According to the sliding scale,
John Smith can create up to 6 lots on his 58 acre parcel. In addition, John
Smith knows that the parcels must be a minimum of 1 acre in size and that
the remaining acreage will count as one of his permitted lots.
Mr Smith wants to leave his
daughter 50 acres of farm land and the original house. He subdivides his land
so that there are 5 small lots along County Road A and the remaining 50 acres
becomes Lot #6.
Once
the parent parcel has been subdivided, the parent parcel designation no longer
exists. This means that lot 6 can not be subdivided in the future because
all of the allowable subdivisions for the original parcel of land were already
made.
In addition, none of the new
lots that were created can be subdivided.
Mr Smith could chose to create
fewer than the six lots allowed by the sliding scale. He can also choose to
assign more than one lot assignment to a given lot. However, he can not exceed
the initial lot assignment because the number was determined by the total
acreage in the parent parcel, not in the created lots. If, for example, Lot
#1 was given 10.5 acres, it could not then be resubdivided into 3 separate
lots unless Mr Smith assigned 3 of the 6 lot assignments to Lot #1.
Finally,
Mr. Smith could decide to subdivide the land into fewer lots than the maximum
allowed, but assign lot development rights to more than one of the parcels.
However he subdivides his land, the total number of allowable parcels calculated
from the original parent parcel will not change. Mr Smith might create four
lots, two of which he might more than one lot assignment (Lots 1 and 4), but
his overall lot assignment can not exceed 6. This would allow the next owners
of Lot 1 or Lot 4 to subdivide their land once in order to create two lots.
Once six lots have been created from the original parent parcel, the land
can not be subdivided further.
In some cases, where the landowner
owns more than one contiguous parent parcel, the parcels can be combined in
order to cluster the permitted number of subdivided lots.
