Minutes - 04-19-2001 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Flicka Bateman asked if a saturation point had been set for the plan and Jonathan Howes said no. Enrollment figures have been set. Allen Spalt made reference to the University's attitude toward the adequate public facilities ordinance and said that it was more ambiguous than reported. He said that the County faces an urgent problem with the schools and their responsibility to provide capital facilities for the schools. He said that the Carrboro Board has been told that if exceptions were made for affordable housing or any other specific group, the legal defensibility of the ordinance would fall. He hopes the University considers that, should they ask far some kind of exemption for University housing. Jonathan Howes said that the University does have concerns about the adequate public facilities ordinance, but will continue to look at it with the elected officials. Chair Halkiotis said that we have to advocate for things we believe in, specifically affordable housing. 4. ADEQUATE PUBLIC FACILITIES ORDINANCE Craig Benedict made this presentation. He said that the purpose of the adequate public facilities ordinance is to try to regulate the most important thing in the County -education. He said that the purpose of the APFO was to balance and regulate where the money goes over time. He said that now was a good time to implement this because the County is not yet behind with providing school facilities. He believes that there does need to be more dialogue with the University concerning their new projects. He would like to put together an implementation team for the APFO. He is available to answer questions. Jackie Gist said that it was unconscionable, with the cast of schools, that we are not looking at year-round schools and that we do not give them serious consideration. Year-round schools get much more for their money than the County now gets. She said that we could not afford to go on with the myth that our children have to have 10 weeks off in the summer. She will not support the APFO without serious consideration of year-round schools. Diana McDuffee said that she feels it is unfair to say that the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School Board has not considered year-round schools. She does not feel it is as much a savings as one thinks. Alex Zaffron made reference to the comment from Craig Benedict about little policy questions and conflicts that could arise prior to implementation. He asked to what extent could an APFO, which sets a constant rate of acceleration, create a problem for land use plans and ordinances. Craig Benedict answered his questions. Alex Zaffron would like to hear from bankers, real estate professionals, and developers - people who are intimately involved in the financial issues of development. Mayor Waldorf agrees that it is unwise for our community to not look at year-round schools. She asked how you ensure under the APFO that the kinds of housing that we have for public purposes (affordable housing) does not get crowded out because other types of housing gets in first. Craig Benedict said that there are a few methods that can be used to accommodate affordable housing. Land can be purchased by an entity and reserved far affordable housing. Pat Evans said that the Town of Cary has an adequate public facilities ordinance and Durham County has a draft, which takes into account the projected school population for the existing zoning. Durham County has a different implementation of the APFO than what is being proposed for Orange County. She thinks the County Commissioners need to look at this information. Commissioner Gordon added that Cary does not know whether the SAPFO is working or not because they have water limitations that restrict development. Commissioner Jacobs made comments about the year-round schools. He said that the issue of year-round schools was brought up at the Capital Needs Advisory Committee meeting. Commissioner Gordon urged everyone to think about the trade-offs of accepting the APFO. She said that the question for the community is how important is it to have schools built in a timely manner. She said that the ordinance would not stop growth, but it is a way to accommodate growth in an orderly manner. She reiterated that this is atime-sensitive matter. Chair Halkiotis said that the County Manager will take a lead role in getting with the managers of Chapel Hill and Carrboro to reactivate the discussions.