Minutes 09-29-2016 - Laserfiche WebLink

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11 schools, as opposed to a 13% increase in the Turner Index. He said his concern is that the Turner Index is not relative to what is actually happening locally. Julie Herlands said an adjustment can be made. Pat Heinrich asked if this data is not relevant. Craig Benedict said if the intent was to charge 100% of the maximum supportable impact fee and to capture all of the localized increases, then a specific regional index should be used. He said historically the County has been at the 60% level of the maximum supportable impact fee. He sad that could be raised to 65 or 70%. James Barrett said the upcoming bond and subsequent renovations will bring a lot of changes. He asked if these costs will be a factor in this data. Julie Herlands said they are trying to determine a replacement cost per square foot based on today's dollars. She said the challenge is to use projects that have been done here in Orange County and inflate them to get to current dollars. She said when the fees are collected they can go towards capacity improvement. James Barrett said asked if the next time a high school is needed in the CHCCS, the dollars are refigured based on the upcoming renovation costs, or are the inflated numbers from 10 years ago still used. Julie Herlands said the numbers from the upcoming Chapel Hill High School renovations would be used and inflated. Commissioner Dorosin said he is concerned that OCS feels it is not being treated fairly in this process. He clarified that the housing of every student in both school districts is determined and put into categories: 0-3 bedroom, apartment, etc. He said these numbers are then reverse engineered to determine how this is all calculated, which yields some of the anomalies that have been alluded to, such as a 4-bedroom house in OCS having less children than a 4-bedroom house in CHCCS. Julie Herlands said a previous study was done on student generational rates for recently developed (within the last 10 years) housing units in the County and both school districts. She said this study was the foundation for these rates. She said all students were geocoded and matched to the assessors' database, which has good data in terms of the bedroom counts for recent developments. She said for the current study, data prior to 2004 was folded in using census data where possible. She said an impact fee is paid once for the life of the unit. She said there may be other factors at play, such as private schools or other demographic realities. Commissioner Dorosin asked if someone built an apartment complex in Chapel Hill tomorrow, they would pay the current rate even if the complex never houses a single public school child. Julie Herlands said the first five years a property may serve one population, and the next five years another type of population, etc. She said the age of a unit can impact the number of students that reside there. Commissioner Dorosin said the differences are the different demographics in each school system. Michael Hood said the data has been looking at new and recent development. He said he has a problem with a 1970s era, 3-bedroom ranch home that now has an extended family living in it. He said the children may not be included in census data. Julie Herlands said these are kids that are generated by type of unit within the school systems. She said there is very good data on the single family side, by size of the house, by bedroom count, by numbers of kids, etc. Rani Dasi said it is important to be transparent with the public, and the numbers should be accurately reported. Julie Herlands said choosing an index is a methodological choice.