6.7.23 PB Agenda Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Cy Stober: The school’s adequate facilities public ordinance annual report has a 10-year forecast using 5 different 166 models for both the municipal school district and the Orange County School District, none of those models forecast a 167 capacity concern for the public school system. 168 169 Chris Johnston: Again, I have a lot of things that I’m considering on my first Orange County Planning Board, and I don’t 170 quite know what to think. 171 172 Melissa Poole: With regards to the capacity issue, while the report does show that there is no 10-year forecast capacity 173 issue, there is a February 8th article in the Daily Tarheel, where the Deputy Superintendent of Orange County Schools is 174 quoted as saying “Overcrowding is a concern for the school district as new growth in the area is leading to class sizes 175 that are exceeding capacity. The district is bringing in mobile units to help with the problem.” The title of the article is 176 “Orange County Schools Employees Bring Concerns of Overcrowding to Board of Education” so it seems as if there is 177 some disconnect between the report and what the superintendent and county employees are saying. 178 179 Chris Johnston: To confirm though, the article was an employee saying something and then the report is what we are 180 supposed to consider. That’s been one of the major things that we keep talking about, is we have to consider what the 181 actual report says, not what we hear. 182 183 Cy Stober: If I may, there are a couple of relevant things to consider. What the 10-year forecast does not consider is the 184 condition of the schools or the facilities. It also identifies over capacity of individual schools that could be resolved 185 through redistricting which the school districts are engaged in at this time. It shows system-wide at the high school, 186 middle school, and elementary school levels that through redistricting the capacity concerns could be potentially resolved 187 because it is just looking at the total amount of capacity for the total number of students enrolled. That is not to say that 188 there are not individual schools that are beyond capacity at this time. 189 190 Melissa Poole: Should we consider capacity at all when a charter school is not districted anyway? 191 192 Cy Stober: I would encourage you to consider whether a school being sited at this location is an appropriate land use as 193 discussed in our adopted plans and in consideration of the land use in the area. 194 195 Charity Kirk: I like the proposal. I don’t think it’s on the right piece of property. We are talking about the mixed residential 196 zoning which states that if it is going to be non-residential, it will be an infill arrangement serving more than 50 dwelling 197 units in a walkable manner. This property is not going to be serving people in a walkable manner. It is a car-oriented 198 property, especially since the Department of Transportation is not going to be doing sidewalks in the area. It is also going 199 to be attracting people from around the county…the tennis and the softball…people are going to be driving there. I 200 believe that Orange County needs it. I would like to see this in a more urban environment. I don’t think this is the right 201 property for it. Now, is there a right property for it? I don’t know. I just feel like the interpretation of what mixed residential 202 is, doesn’t match with what is planned for the property. 203 204 Lamar Proctor: I’ve thought a lot about this, I spoke with the chair of the school board, they are not in favor of another 205 school. They have many repairs that need to be done on the schools. The SAPFO shows that there is capacity for 206 schools in Orange County over 10 years. I agree with Chris, if this was just the ballfields, it would be a no-brainer and it 207 would be done. It’s the school. Orange County does not need another school, we need to focus on the schools we have 208 and making those as good as we can make them. Looking at our Comprehensive Land Use Plan, it encourages us also 209 to do work with the municipalities in a fair and equitable way. They oppose this, Hillsborough opposes it, they indicated 210 that it would put an undue burden on their wastewater system. They considered this and opposed and voted against it. 211 Orange County has to be a good neighbor to its municipalities, the one that is directly affected by this project opposes it, 212 we do not need another school in Orange County, and that’s pretty much it for me. In our land use plan, we are trying to 213 encourage expanded use and non-auto modes of travel. I want those ball fields somewhere, as I asked HYAA, there 214 were over 40 acres cleared in my district in Cheeks that was supposed to be these ball fields and somehow that fell 215 through. That 40 plus acres was within 2 miles of two I-40 exits and was across the street from the soccer fields next to 216 Gravelly Hill. That would be an ideal place for these ball fields as opposed to jammed into a tight residential area with 217 creating traffic concerns. I am not talking about traffic concerns from the school because we are not considering those 218 but traffic concerns for HYAA tournaments, traffic concerns for tennis tournaments, traffic concerns for skate park 219 38