Orange County NC Website
Good Schools, Good Neighborhoods <br />David Salvesen, UNC Center, fol• Urbatr and Regional Studies <br />David Salvesen summarized recent research on the impacts of <br />state and local school board policies on the design and location <br />of schools in North Carolina.. He noted that although the state <br />has guidelines for the acreage of facilities, most communities <br />treat these as requirements. The result has been bigger schools <br />on larger sites, often on more distant sites, due to up-front land <br />and building cost considerations. <br />He described a success story of the new Mary Scruggs <br />Elementary School in Chapel Hill. Planned as part of the <br />Southern Village traditional neighborhood development, the <br />school is two stories, is adjacent to a city park and is well- <br />connected to nearby residential areas with safe walking and <br />bicycling routes. As a result, a third of all students and <br />more than three-quarters of students who live in Southern <br />Village walk or bike to school. <br />See the presentation at: fs://ftp.ticoa.ora/pub/webftp/cursschl.pdf <br />r. ° ..-<. ~<s,:" Figure 2. Afaq~ Scruggs L•lementary School in Chapet NiJt. <br />Smart Growth Schools in Wake County <br />7yotr Sharma, Director, Facility Planning, Wake County Public School System <br />4 = <br />'©.. G..4 4 4 4 '4 t,,, ,' 4.Q+ 4 4.r~. <br />c ig -'p ~ ~ <br />I ^ r'' ~' <br />~~~ L~ ~ <br />E ! r ~ t .~ ~ ~ t-~..i ~. i I t ~ ~ ~ r fba <br />t ;~'i a c ~'~ i t~ i, '~' _~ I~; b <br />~~" <br />„„.. <br />~ir~ <br />__~ <br />r,, <br />..-n ...n... Y' <br />'"Ye`~„'G' C-tJ~GGf"r-r-r,-t-,'{~--3 ri G <br />Figure 3. Award-IVinning Museums hingnet D4/ddte <br />ScBooJ in IVake County <br />Jyoti Sharma described recent efforts in Wake County <br />to develop more compact school sites, co-locate <br />schools with parks, and use high performance <br />guidelines in the design and construction of'schools. <br />She noted that co-location and compact, <br />neighborhood-oriented design takes more work, but is <br />worth the effort in matching community values and <br />providing better service and facilities for citizens. <br />She highlighted the Museums Magnet middle school, <br />a 600-student school built on a 4-acre city block. <br />Innovative site design included using playing fields as <br />storrnwater detention facilities, having the outdoor <br />basketball court double as the car drop off area and <br />using a widened city street as the bus drop of'f' lane. <br />The planned Brier Creek Elementary School will be <br />co-located with a park and community center, saving <br />the city $450,000 and providing the school with a <br />larger activity center than it would have otherwise. <br />See the presentation at: ftu://ftp.ticog.or~/pub/webftphvakeschl.pdf <br />