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6 <br />done. He developed an estimate of the identified need for school capital <br />construction of $9374 per residential dwelling unit which is built. The <br />S.O.S. position on impact fees is that they would like the County Planning <br />office to research the current figures and issue an annual update to the <br />technical report. They ask for a sliding scale, and believe that the impact <br />fees for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro district should be calculated separately <br />from the Orange County district because Orange County Schools are not <br />experiencing rapid growth. He feels the fee should be set at a reasonable and <br />substantial level and ask that all sources of revenue be considered for <br />additional schools. <br />PEGGY BROOK yielded her time to Harvey Goldstein. <br />HARVEY GOLDSTEIN, President, PTA Council for Chapel Hill-Carrboro <br />Schools, presented a position statement on the impact fee that was recently <br />unanimously approved by the members of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro PTA Council. <br />In summary, the PTA Council supports raising the fee to an average of at <br />least $1500 per dwelling unit, but allowing for effective exemption of units <br />built for low-income residents so as to not inhibit the availability of <br />affordable housing. They also feel that tying the fee to the size of the unit <br />would be consistent with the requirement that the magnitude of the fee be <br />related to the impact since there is a significant relationship between size <br />of unit and number of school age children. <br />KAREN CASEY, parent of five school age children and resident of <br />Heritiage Hills, said that the district has grown with amazing speed. She <br />talked about the overcrowding conditions at Frank Porter Graham. She has <br />noticed a lot of new development and would like to have the peace of mind of <br />knowing that the schools will not remain overcrowded. She asked that the <br />Board do something for all the schools in Orange County and the students who <br />attend them. <br />FRANCINE BLOUIN asked that the County move on to solve the problems by <br />increasing the impact fee to a reasonable level for the school building fund. <br />She noted that the cost of the impact on schools is $9,000, yet the fee is set <br />at $750. She asked that the Board start planning for new schools to <br />accommodate the children who are already here and for many more that will <br />come. <br />DAVID C. HURLBERT spoke against the impact fee -- not against money for <br />schools. He feels that the community, as a whole, should pay for new schools. <br />The impact fee shifts the burden to new homeowners including. those who are <br />lifelong residents and want to move from renting to owning. He feels that a <br />bond referendum is a fairer way of paying for schools. <br />JIM MCQUAID, father of two elementary school children, stated that <br />there is a wide range of people in the school system as well as a wide range <br />of students with individual needs. There is also overcrowding which can make <br />a great teacher exhausted and a good teacher ineffective. He feels children <br />do not receive the attention they need or deserve. He feels the schools can <br />be run more efficiently but children need to be put first. He feels everyone <br />is responsible for all the children in the community. He asked that the Board <br />find an equitable way for growth to serve the community and the children. <br />