The Puerto Rico Plan: Environmental Protection Through Development Rights Transfer

The "Puerto Rico Plan," as detailed here, is a full-fledged effort to apply the Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) approach on a broad scale. It is perhaps the first time the TDR concept has been applied to such a large land area. The "Puerto Rico Plan" is ambitious and like any untried concept, full of questions which can be answered only through experience. The authors recognize this and clearly state that in the early stages of implementation, an appropriate degree of flexibility should be exercised to accommodate inevitable changes. The plan, they further recommend, should be kept in simple form in early implemental stages. This is the same conservative attitude as that taken by the authors of Collier County, Florida's "Transfer of Density Use Credit" provision which is now incorporated in the county's comprehensive plan.