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12 <br /> ORANGE COUNTY <br /> BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br /> Meeting Date: August 21, 2007 <br /> Action Agenda <br /> Item No. <br /> SUBJECT: Approval of Orange County's School Construction Standards <br /> DEPARTMENT: Budget PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br /> ATTACHMENT(S): <br /> Attachment 1. April 30, 2007 School <br /> Construction Standards <br /> Attachment 2. Minutes April 30, 2007 INFORMATION CONTACT: <br /> Joint Meeting of County Donna Coffey, (919) 245-2151 <br /> Commissioners, Chapel <br /> Hill Carrboro City Schools <br /> Board of Education and <br /> Orange County Schools <br /> Board of Education <br /> PURPOSE: To approve Orange County's School Construction Standards. <br /> BACKGROUND: Orange County's current elementary and middle school construction <br /> standards have been in place since 1996, and its high school standards since 1999. While these <br /> standards have served as a model for many schools constructed in both the Chapel Hill- <br /> Carrboro City and the Orange County Schools, it has become increasingly difficult to adhere to <br /> the standards due to economic factors such as rising construction costs as well as educational <br /> reforms such as changes in state mandated class sizes for grades kindergarten through third. In <br /> addition, land use regulations and environmental considerations that incorporate sustainable <br /> building components and smart growth elements are becoming more prevalent in the <br /> construction industry. Two separate School Facilities Task Forces, convened in 2000 and 2002, <br /> identified a number of standards that required clarification and/or updating (e.g. baseline <br /> estimates for per square foot cost, an appropriate inflation factor, percentage of project budget <br /> that should be set aside for contingency, etc.). To that end, the Boards of County <br /> Commissioners and Education recognized the need to update and refine Orange County's <br /> current School Construction Standards, and last year requested that the School/County <br /> Collaboration Work Group review existing School Construction Standards with the intent of <br /> bringing them more in line with today's practices, regulations, and construction market. <br /> At the time that Orange Commissioners adopted the County's existing School Construction <br /> Standards, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) had Facilities <br /> Standards in place that established minimum construction criteria for individual school districts <br /> to adhere to when they constructed new facilities or renovated older ones. Since that time, the <br />