Orange County NC Website
2 <br />• December 12, 2006 - The Board of County. Commissioners approved a voluntary <br />annexation petition requested by the Town of Carrboro - the annexed area consists of <br />19-acres (known as the school site) out of the entire 193-acre Twin Creeks master site <br />• December 14, 2006 - The school district received bid results for construction of the new <br />school as well as installation of water and sewer infrastructure. <br />• January 9, 2007 - The Town of Carrboro held a public hearing, and subsequently <br />approved a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) to allow the construction of Elementary #10. <br />• January 18, 2007 - The Chapel Hill Carrboro Board of Education discussed Elementary <br />#10 but deferred decisions regarding bid awards until February 1, 2007. <br />• January 26, 2007 - Superintendent Neil Pedersen informed the County Manager (via the <br />attached January 26, 2007 memorandum) that he planned to ask the Chapel Hill <br />Carrboro City Schools Board of Education to award construction bids on February 1, <br />2007 "on the condition that funds are authorized by the Orange County Board of <br />Commissioners". Included in the materials from the Superintendent was a list of value <br />engineering and modification items that School Board members considered during their <br />meeting. <br />• February 2, 2007 - Superintendent Pedersen notified the County Manager that, on <br />February 1, 2007, the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools approved a total project budget <br />for Elementary #10 of $24,282,751 and authorized him to submit the District's request to <br />the County. The Board of Education's request is that County Commissioners approve <br />the project budget of $24.3 million as soon as possible in order to break ground next <br />month followed by opening of the school in August 2008. A project detail is included in <br />the February 2 memorandum from the Superintendent. <br />Given the fact that the Board of Education submitted its funding request less than a week ago, <br />there are many outstanding questions and concerns that County staff has not had sufficient <br />time to fully analyze. Examples of the outstanding issues include affordability and debt <br />capacity, design components including sustainable elements, regulatory issues, water, sewer <br />and road infrastructure, student membership, elementary level capacity and Schools Adequate <br />Public Facilities. It would be in the County's best interest for staff to review and analyze all of <br />the impacts of the Board of Education's request for $24.3 million for Elementary #10 before <br />moving forward. <br />It is also important to note that while the Town of Carrboro approved the Conditional Use Permit <br />for Elementary #10, the approval was conditional on the school district meeting a number of <br />conditions. Attachment 3 is a copy of the minutes from the Town's January 9, 2007 public <br />hearing. The minutes include 28 conditions cited by the Town some of which may require <br />additional expenditures to complete. <br />FINANCIAL IMPACT: On September 14, 2006, the Board approved debt issuance plans for <br />individual County and School projects totaling $96.2 million ($92.2 million in non-enterprise fund <br />debt plus $4 million in enterprise fund debt). Attachment 4 of this agenda abstract is a memo <br />from the County's Budget Director that confirms the Board's debt issuance plans. <br />In addition to Carrboro High School and a number of County related projects, those plans <br />included $21.1 million for Elementary #10 plus $1.2 million for the County's share of water and <br />sewer infrastructure to the Twin Creeks school/park campus. It is important to note that the