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Provides highly attractive (marketable) lots and homes
close to conserved forestland.
Reduces design and construction costs associated with roads and utilities.
Uses natural areas and grass swales to manage stormwater, reducing the volume and velocity of runoff.
Sustains forest productivity over the long term (timber and non-timber uses). Provides continuing economic returns for the managing entity.
Offers tax credits through the use of conservation easements, thus easing development-related cash-flow difficulties.
Creates a sense of community among residents.
Provides for larger parks/gardens/recreation areas with opportunities for extensive walking/hiking trails.
Provides opportunities to create more affordable housing.
Helps maintain local rural character, thus reinforcing local comprehensive plans.
Preserves critical forestland; provides core wildlife habitat.
Creates larger, more effective environmental corridors, especially when linked to other open space.
Reduces impacts of development on watersheds by providing water infiltration into forestland soils.
Reduces disturbance to forest flora, fauna, and soil fertility.
Creates opportunities for innovative wastewater treatment, thus protecting area waters from failing/leaky systems.

Loss of property tax revenue. Property values may increase. Surrounding land may benefit from preserved greenspace and increase in assessed value.
Time delay to project (lack of timely plan approvals). If cluster development regulations are clear and well formulated there will be no time delay. Further well-written ordinances expedite approvals.
Smaller-sized lots are less private. Well-designed, each house has retains a high level of privacy.
Local officials, developers, and the community may be predisposed toward conventional development designs because they are familiar and well understood. Well-designed cluster developments can change this perception. Developers have found a strong market for open space / cluster development housing units. Further, if land use ordinances and subdivision regulations make compact layouts the easiest (default) option, then interest in these development types will change.
Stormwater run-off and septic management can take additional planning and management.
There is less total infrastructure to plan and manage.
How does a locality give the proper incentives for a developer to design a cluster development instead of a conventional subdivision? Regulations and/or planning process incentives can make clustering mandatory, allow density bonuses, or set maximum densities in conventional subdivisions at very low levels. Well formulated ordinances/regulations allow flexibility to address site and contextual needs.