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24 <br />Orange County Board of Cornmiasionera <br />Page 2 <br />September 29, 2000 <br />The memoranduiri of undexstanding also incorporates the <br />service levels and .requires the schools to consider a number of <br />factors, including: number of s~.udents presentJ.y enrolled; <br />projected ar ongoing construction of schools ox'.permarient <br />expansion of existing schools; projected a.ncreases in enrollment <br />'due to residential growth as determined by approved building <br />lots and other developments in pxogress and "any other f ac,tora <br />deemed relevant by the school district in determining whether <br />each. school lever of service [will be exceeded if the] project <br />is constructed." <br />Issue Number 1 <br />To what degree C.an the County's financial ability to <br />respond to school needs and projected school needs be one of the <br />"other factors" considered by the schools a.n making certificate <br />decisions? Put another way, Can the Adequate Public Schaal <br />Faci7;itiea Program be used to limit. the amount of residential <br />development..k~y budget decisions to allocate ar not money for <br />school constxuCta.on? <br />It is not contemp7.ated by an adequate public facilities <br />program that .the tools, the ordinances and the MQU, are growth- <br />limiting devices. Rather, the chief objective of these tao].s is <br />to provide a x'easonable amount of time for tkie County a8 the <br />~is,~l„.agPn~t, and the schools as the_ ~d~_~~t~~-s~c~.9ent to respond <br />to the impact of residential growth on the schoale. That is, <br />they allow both the County and the schools to reasonably respond <br />to the pace of development.. Therefore, the degree to which the <br />County is willing to spend money on school construction is not' <br />an`"other".factor to be considered by the schools in issuing <br />certificates. <br />On the other hand; the County does not have to bankrupt <br />itself and its citizens to keep SChOO1 construction current with <br />population increases. That is to say, 'the County can establish, <br />in some broad sense debt service goals which if exceeded would <br />have the impact of severely weakening Orange County's financial <br />Condition. Frank~.y, before the County reaches that .level of <br />fiscal despair, there must be a loud hue and cry for residential <br />development land use limitation changes. If land use regulations <br />