Agenda - 05-26-1992 - Laserfiche WebLink

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' standards, those recommended by agencies such as the Division of School Planning of the N.C. Department of Public Instruction may be used. ' Care should be taken when using such standards for they would still have to be compared with the existing community standard. ' Moreover, such standards should relate to both existing developments and new developments. The application of the same standard to both components of the community means that new ' development cannot be required to raise the standard. If the community wants to raise the existing standard of service, it must identify the existing deficiency and make provisions to eliminate those deficiencies by means other than impact fees. ' In North Carolina, minimum service standards for public schools are set by the Office of School Planning of the N.C. ' Department of Public Instruction. These standards are contained in a "Theoretical Space Profile For School Facilities That Provide For A Modern Education Program" developed by that agency for school ' planning purposes. The profile includes space standards for the construction of elementary, middle, and high schools [see Table 5]. Shown in Table 6 are the standards of that agency which are ' closest to the school capacities proposed.for new public schools -in orange County; i.e., 640 for an elementary school, 700 for a middle school, and an average of 1250 for a high school. To determine if Orange County standards were higher or lower than those of the State, all public schools in the county were ' surveyed to identify building area, land area, and capacity characteristics. From the results of the survey, "local averages" were calculated, including figures for the number of square feet of building and land area per student, and .compared to the State ' standards. The calculations are shown in Table 7. As evidenced by the comparison, "local averages" exceed the ' State standards in all cases except one. The number of square feet of building area per student for local elementary schools [116) is practically identical to the State standard [117]. From the ' standpoint of-identifying a "service standard" for use in calculating impact fees, the comparison suggests that the "local averages" be used. Other standards have been proposed, however, which bear mentioning. Recent discussions between Orange County and School Board officials involving the public school facilities capital ' improvements program have revealed even higher standards. For an elementary school, 175 square feet of building area per student has been recommended by the Chapel Hill - Carrboro School Board. The ' Orange County School Board has indicated it would like an elementary school built to the same specifications. For middle and high schools, the Chapel Hill- Carrboro School Board has recommended building area standards of 211 and 179 square feet per student, respectively. IPage - 5