Orange County NC Website
24 <br />1 Jeff Thompson said yes. He said construction needs to happen by 2016, and the facility <br />2 needs to be operating by 2019. <br />3 <br />4 • Preliminary Renovation Planning Funds for Older Facility Needs <br />5 <br />6 Paul Laughton said the Chapel Hill - Carrboro City Schools (CHCCS) submitted a request <br />7 on April 22, 2014 requesting $750,000 in preliminary renovation planning funds related to older <br />8 facility needs. County staff has contacted Orange County Schools related to their possible <br />9 planning fund needs, and this information will be presented to the Board of County <br />10 Commissioners when a response is received. <br />11 <br />12 Paul Laughton said there is also a letter from Orange County School (OCS) Board of <br />13 Education at their places. He said the second paragraph mentions that the Orange County <br />14 Board of Education will be wrestling with the hard question of how to address capital needs <br />15 while maximizing available funding over the next couple of weeks. <br />16 <br />17 Commissioner Gordon said her understanding was that if this request for $750,000 was <br />18 granted, it would delay the need for another school for a period of time. She asked for an <br />19 explanation of the tradeoff in terms of building capacity versus building new schools. <br />20 Todd Lofrese said their district continues to grow and they are trying to keep up with <br />21 capacity. He said the potential 2016 bond schedule would be too late for the Chapel Hill - <br />22 Carrboro City Schools (CHCCS) to design a school or an addition to build the needed capacity. <br />23 He said the money has been requested to allow for planning and design work to create a shovel <br />24 ready project by the time a bond comes through. He said it might be necessary to start fund <br />25 raising prior to the bond. <br />26 He said the design and approval process can take 18 months or longer. He said the <br />27 goal is to be ready to hit the ground running as soon as funds become available. <br />28 Commissioner Gordon said the alternative would be to go ahead and build a new <br />29 school. <br />30 Todd Lofrese said a decision or non decision at some point will result in the district <br />31 missing the window to be able to address older school needs. He said there will be a point in <br />32 time where a new school is knocking on the door. <br />33 Commissioner Gordon asked if this is being requested for this fiscal cycle. <br />34 Todd Lofrese said they are requesting it now. <br />35 Chair Bedford said the Culbreth Science Labs pushes out the new middle school to <br />36 2020, but also the new elementary school to open in 2020. She said these openings in 2020 <br />37 would mean funding of $1.4 million in 2017 -18, and then $14 million in 2018 -19, and then <br />38 another $54 million. She said it is all a matter of timing. She said they would like to extend one <br />39 of these out. <br />40 Commissioner Dorosin asked if the $750,000 is included as part of the general budget <br />41 request or if it is additional. <br />42 Todd Lofriese said yes, it was included. <br />43 Michael Talbert said this was not in their budget request, but it was in their unfunded <br />44 request. <br />45 A motion was made by Commissioner Dorosin, seconded by Commissioner Price to <br />46 adjourn the meeting at 11:46 p.m. <br />47 <br />48 VOTE: UNANMOUS <br />49 <br />50 Barry Jacobs, Chair <br />