Minutes - 03-30-2000 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

a. Memorandum of Understanding including a draft School Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance b. AttorneylPlanners/School Representatives Workgraup letter to Schools and Land Use Councils (SLUC1 Chair Craig Benedict said that the Schools and Land Use Council has put forth a very strong effort in the past year to develop joint coordination with the representatives from the various towns and school districts to address the Schools Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO}. The Schools and Land Use Council has charged a variety of tasks for the different staffs to work on a two-part process. The first part is a memorandum of understanding (MOU} and the second part is a draft ordinance. The MOU is very similar to what the towns and school districts worked with through the Schools and Land Use Council when they were working on joint facilities for recreation and schools. The specifics of the ordinance will be plugged into the land development code of the various jurisdictions. He said that the MOU would not create an adoption of the APFO. All of the comments and questions received at the meetings with the various jurisdictions have been wrapped into the process that the attorneys, planning directors, and school representatives have been working on. This group has met $-10 times to work on the MOU and APFO. He said that he needed further direction from the elected boards before proceeding. Flicka Bateman asked when the boards would hear from the school boards. Commissioner Gordon said that this Schools and Land Use Council draft would come back for further work. She said that tonight the Schools and Land Use Council wanted to know if the boards were ready to give a thumbs upon the concept of the Schools APFO. She said that the details still needed to be worked out. Alex Zaffron said that he would not be ready to support the ordinance to deal with some of the issues because the details were not played out yet. 2. Secondary Benefits of Schools APFO: Craig Benedict said that the issue of reasonable student projections was one of the hardest issues to grapple with. Equitable funding is also an issue. The Schools APFO has a way of smoothing out the critical periods when spikes occur in school enrollment. He said that the projections for the next five years would be very specific because capital funding plans would depend on it. He said that a manageable database was being put together from the various jurisdictions. This information should be an the Internet within a year. This information will also be plugged into the comprehensive plan so the County can accommodate for the growth. He said that the growth pressures on the towns and the County have been laying in wait. He said that there was a certain degree of urgency because there were some large subdivisions coming to Orange County in the near future. He said that if Orange County gets ahead of all of the growth, it would be easier to manage and easier for the tax payers. Craig Benedict said that it is anticipated that there will be two memorandums of understanding that would be signed -one with Orange County, Hillsborough, Mebane, and the Orange County school district and the other with Chapel Hill, Carrbaro, Chapel Hill-Carrbaro school district, and Orange County. He said that there were really only two blanks within the entire ordinance. One question is the issue of over capacity in the schools. This issue will be sent back to the Schools and Land Use Council to work with the school districts. He said that capacity would not include having mobile classrooms. The other question deals with adopting the APFO into the Town's subdivision and zoning codes with the school districts actually being the administrator of the certificates of adequate public facilities. It is going to be a challenging task to keep track of the development that is occurring in the County. All of the information about potential subdivisions would have to be made readily available to the school district sa that they can issue a Certificate of Adequate Public Schools (CAPS}. The latter parts of the MOU indicate that it is not a mandate, but an interlocal agreement. If a party to the interlocal agreement wants out of it, there is no penalty clause. He said that it was the most progressive APFO in North Carolina.