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better and a change would disrupt the design and require considerable redesign. Ken Redfoot, the <br />architect, explained the building and site design. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said he visited the site and has a concern about the narrow streets <br />and the buses that will need to travel those streets. Neil Pedersen said that their hope is that they will <br />not need any transportation by buses for this school for children living in Southern Village. The total <br />buildout for Southern Village is 1100 units. <br />Commissioner Carey said that while the Commissioners feel it is important to maximize our <br />facilities to include community use, there is currently no process to accomplish that yet, especially with <br />respect to funding. He asked about the deadline for a decision, and the superintendent said the time <br />could be extended to the end of March, but a decision would have to be made in the next 25 days. <br />Chair Crowther asked about the Town's master plan for the park and stated that it is <br />incumbent upon the Town of Chapel Hill, if they are interested in revising their master plan, to do so to <br />see whether a gymnasium is appropriate or not. <br />Commissioner Gordon expressed a concern that the site does not meet the recommended <br />state guidelines for the number of acres for a school site which in this case would be 16 acres. There is <br />no flexibility in the Special Use Permit for adding more land for a school site. She asked about the <br />arrangements for receiving the land from the Town. Neil Pedersen said the school system had to buy <br />the land since it was purchased with bond money but then they would receive payment from the Town <br />for the park and recreation facilities that the school system constructs on the property. He believes the <br />cost of the property and the cost of the athletic facilities will be roughly equivalent ( a "wash"). The price <br />they are paying to the Town for the land is $25,000 per acre. If the cost of the facilities is sufficient that <br />they could purchase more property, that might be possible, but the school system does not want to buy <br />four acres for $100,000 just to get up to the 16 acres standard . Neil Pedersen said that they do not need <br />additional acreage because they have fit everything on the 12-112 acres and because park land is <br />adjacent. Though the site is tight, it meets their needs and fits in with the theme of the Southern Village <br />which emphasizes very compact housing and commercial development. They wanted to match their <br />facility with the nature of the community. <br />Mark Royster, Chair of the School Board, spoke to the question of the smaller amount of land <br />for the school. He stated that the whole point of the collaboration between the school and the town was <br />that the school would not have to purchase the full 16 acres. To go back and ask the Town for an <br />additional 3-1/2 acres would defeat the initial purpose. Ken Redfoot stated that they had worked closely <br />with the Town's Park and Recreation Board and staff, and that it was the desire of that board and staff to <br />allow the school to use the necessary land to build the soccer field but minimize the <br />amount of space encumbered on their property because they have not had the chance to develop a <br />master plan for the site. <br />Commissioner Brown feels that as the school grows they will still have a serious traffic <br />problem and hopes that the future access road to the school from the south will help alleviate the <br />situation. She asked about using the school building as it now stands for rest rooms that could be <br />accessed from the outside without entering the building, to facilitate community use. Ken Redfoot <br />showed the floor plan indicating that the facility has not been designed so the rest rooms can be entered <br />from the outside. <br />A motion was made by Commissioner Carey, seconded by Commissioner Halkiotis, to <br />encourage the school system to proceed with their current plan for building the school and also to <br />encourage the school system to look at future projects for combined school/community use in a way that <br />was mutually advantageous for the schools and community. <br />VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br />Commissioner Halkiotis asked that the question of combined school/community use be put on <br />the agenda for the next meeting with the two school systems and the commissioners agreed to do that. <br />They agreed that this issue needs to be settled once and for all because even though the intent was to <br />have a school/park combination at the Southern Village School, that intention was not fully realized.