Agenda - 09-30-1998 - 1 - Laserfiche WebLink

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(Orange Countp Jgoarb of (Ebutation RANDY BRIDGES, SUPERINTENDENT J�)ill5borougb, RC 2727S BOARD MEMBERS LARRY HAVERLAND, CHAIR DELORES SIMPSON, VICE CHAIR ROBERT H. BATEMAN KEITH COOK SUSAN DOVENBARGER RICHARD KENNEDY DAVID KOLSINSKY July 31, 1998 Mr. John Link County Manager P. O. Box 8181 Hillsborough, NC 27278 Dear John: 200 EAST KING STREET TELEPHONE: 919- 732 -8125 FAX: 919 - 732 -8120 The Orange County Board of Education plans to build an elementary school north of Highway 70 in the vicinity of the Mars Hill Baptist Church. We have reached a verbal agreement with a landowner for donation of a site for the school and expect to sign a contract at our August 3 Board Meeting. This site potentially includes land beyond that needed for the school which could be developed into a recreational park or other facility in connection with our school site. We are very excited to have reached this agreement for the donation of this site. We believe that this is an excellent location for an elementary school to serve a portion of the northern end of the county. Donation of this site saves the taxpayers of Orange County in excess of $250,000.00 for the purchase of the land for a school site. This location is closer to existing water and sewer than other potential sites, resulting in additional savings as well. As a part of our agreement with the landowner, the Orange County Board of Education has committed to support the landowner in several respects. The landowner anticipates developing its remaining property into a residential development. As I understand the approval process for residential development, it is required that certain portions of the developed lands be set aside for - public use or that the developer make a financial donation in lieu thereof. Since the site donated to the Orange County Schools will be used entirely for public use, we would request that the appropriate governing authority permit the developer to count all of the land donated to the school system against any public use requirement. Certainly any area which could be used as a park or recreational facility for the public should meet those regulatory requirements; and since a public school site is public use land, it should also be credited against the public use requirement. Our contract calls for a parcel of land to be donated which would accommodate the school with additional property of ten to fifteen acres depending on the survey. This additional land is an adjacent parcel, which could provide a park or recreational facilities, or both. The Orange County Schools would anticipate a joint venture with both representatives from both governments to design these park and recreational facilities.