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8. The Analysis Table ( "Location of School /Park Facilities ") states that the <br />school playing fields are more important to be located closer to the <br />neighborhoods, since the park fields "are intended for countywide use" <br />and the school fields "are open for casual use when not in use by middle <br />school teams." It is not clear to staff that either the school or park fields <br />would be available /unavailable in this fashion, pending further discussion. <br />9. In the Analysis Table ( "Topography "), it is noted that the former farmland <br />(park playing fields in the current plans) can support schools and fields <br />without undue cost. It could be argued that the same is true for the park <br />fields — one of the main reasons the site was purchased for the park, <br />10. In the Analysis Table ( "City growth planning "), it is stated that wetlands to <br />the north and Duke Forest make future residential development unlikely in <br />those areas." While true, there are 70 -plus undeveloped acres to the east <br />and southeast that could at some future time contain 140 or more <br />residences on half -acre lots or smaller. These residences would be within <br />% mile of the campus in the current designs, well within the 1,5 -mile <br />walkability zone. The Town's Transition Area also continues to the north <br />and northwest, which could see future urban scale development as well. <br />Preliminary Conclusion <br />The proposed inverted redesign is an interesting alternative, and staff thanks the <br />citizens for bringing it to our attention. There are a number of challenges that <br />such a redesign might bring, including some that will remain unknown until a <br />more thorough assessment and site analysis is performed. <br />If the Board would like to examine this possibility further, staff would be glad to <br />look at it in more detail and report back in January. We anticipate that a full <br />redesign along these lines would take 6 months and delay the project by <br />approximately 1 year, based on a process that takes into consideration current <br />workloads, public input and needed approvals. <br />