From Ranchland To Conservation Community

"The county's Land Preservation Subdivision Exemption program allows homes to be clustered on smaller lots than the base zoning permits, in exchange for preservation of at least 100 acres of open space. The LPS program gives landowners an alternative to subdividing their property into the standard 35-acre lots that state statute allows with no county subdivision review... LPS participants are allowed a base density of one lot per 35 acres, plus one bonus lot for every 100 acres preserved. For example, the 285-acre Blue Valley Ranch, which applied for an exemption in 1999, was allowed 10 lots in exchange for its 200 acres of preserved open space. Eight lots would have been permitted under regular zoning. The resulting lots averaged eight acres each. Seventy percent of the property was preserved."