Agenda - 04-29-2004-8a - Laserfiche WebLink

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Smart Growth Schools in Durham County Dan.7ewell, Coulter-.7ewell-Thanter, P~1. Dan .IeweIl described a planning and design process that brought together school facility designers, land use planners, transportation planners, elected officials and neighborhood residents to provide guidance on the design of a new elementary school in southwest Durham county, The one day "charTette" looked at both the use of the site and how the site could best relate to the surrounding neighborhoods. The resulting school is a 2-story elementary school that minimizes the amount of the site used, provides the potential for a city park and other community facilities on the site, and reserves space for a major transit corridor proposed along the site. See the presentation at: ftp://ffp.tjco>;.orp/pub/webftp/durschl.pdE Fi~nrre A Ne+v Tina-Story Llementay Sclmol in Durham County Getting to Smart Growth Schools Several challenges and opportunities emerged from the presentations and discussion: I. In making schools that serve as neighborhood centers, the neighborhood aspects may be the most challenging.. Neighborhoods with a diverse housing stock and urban densities enable greater use of the school and calocated facilities by neighborhood residents. Good neighborhoods can also enrich the educational mission of the school. For example, Wake County's Museums Magnet Middle School is able to use the nearby museums and perforn7ing arts facilities in its curriculwn, 2. Building trust, understanding and commitment among a variety of decision-makers is important. Several different mechanisms can be used to generate ideas, provide incentives, indicate expectations, and solidify commitments; examples include: • quick design workshops or "charrettes" that involve a range of interested parties to identify site and building features, co-location opportunities, and links to surrounding neighborhoods; • inter-depar4nental teams and intergovernmental planning processes to provide input on site selection and design, and to develop,joint use agreements; • planning protocols signed by county eomrnissions, school boards and municipal councils outlining authority, responsibilities and expectations in pursuing smart growth schools; • incentive funds provided by counties to school systems if specified smart growth location and design criteria are met. • formal joint Capital Improvement Program (CIP) approaches that ensure early consideration of co- location opportunities and shared resource inveshnents.