Orange County NC Website
ti)~~ <br />From: <Andresen02®aol.com> <br />To: ocmail.ocmail(jlink) <br />Date: 3/24/99 9:57pm <br />subject: memo on concurrency <br />Thanks John for the suggestions. <br />to whomever you wish. <br />Here is the memo back again. <br />Please send it <br />March 2.2, 1999 <br />Update to Mayor and Town Council <br />Re: Schools and Land Use Task Force <br />From: Council Member Julie McClintock <br />The Schools and Land Use Task Force met on March 10. This group has met for <br />nearly 2 years. About 9 months ago the group suggested that Orange County, <br />Chapel Hi11, Carrboro and Hillsborough attorneys-study whether concurrence <br />principles could be applied to school facilities through ordinances adopted by <br />Orange County governments. The principle of concurrence is that planning <br />approvals are paced to the adequate provision of public facilities to support <br />them. <br />A verbal report was delivered at the March 10 meeting by Geof Gledhill, Orange <br />County attorney, who gave a summary. of a model that could work. No enabling <br />legislation is required, he said. He said the first step is .f or all. parties <br />to enter into an agreement or agreements: (1) to develop a facilities plan <br />for school needs for a certain period of time, say 10 years; and (2) for each <br />planning jurisdiction to adopt an ordinance which would prohibit the <br />permitting of a development project over a certain size unless it had a <br />certificate from the appropriate School Board, certifying that adequate school <br />facilities are or will be available when the demand is generatAd by the <br />buildout of the development. The second step is to develop the. school <br />facilities plan. The third step is for the planning governments to adopt the. <br />ordinances. The ordinances and agreements would ensure that the pace of <br />development approvals would not exceed the capability of Orange County <br />government to provide classroom space for children. <br />The Task Force acknowledged that the County would still need to find the means <br />to pay for new schools and the school boards would still need to build new <br />schools. If these ordinances were adopted by all jurisdictions, then they <br />would create an incentive for developers to "sweeten the deal" by donating <br />land and other amenities for schools. Task force members further agreed with <br />the suggestion that it is essential to develop criteria for land appropriate <br />for siting of schools, e.g. a high'~usable site, available public facilities, a <br />site large enough for joint facilities, and located near enough to the area to <br />be served. Alternatively, the idea of receiving money in lieu of land was <br />considered. <br />Craig Benedict, Orange County Planner, described how this system might work. <br />School boards would determine school needs through a requirement that each <br />developer meet with the school system to discuss what are the student <br />generation rates and the associated school needs of the proposed project based <br />