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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 03-27-2007-5jORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: March 27, 2007 Action Agenda Item No. 5-~_ SUBJECT: County/Schools Collaboration Work Group School Site Land Banking Letter DEPARTMENT: BOCC PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No ATTACHMENT(S): Draft Letter INFORMATION CONTACT: Moses Carey, Chair, 245-2130 Barry Jacobs, Vice Chair, 245-2130 PURPOSE: To review and comment on a proposed letter to be sent to municipalities by Chair Moses Carey and the two School Board Chairs regarding cooperative research in school site land banking. BACKGROUND: The County/Schools Collaboration Work Group (a group composed of the chair and vice chairs of Orange County and both school districts) is in the process of forwarding a letter to the mayors of the county municipalities to begin a more formal. process of school site collaboration. School site `land banking' includes identifying land and purchasing in advance, for long-term school site needs. In this manner, all parties, local governments and the school districts can employ `smart growth' locational and infrastructure criteria to proactively site future schools. The County, towns and school districts have for years been in agreement to coordinate site and facilities for joint use. However, new considerations regarding planning, transit, green buildings and the scarcity of available land create new found urgency to find strategic sites for the future. A draft letter from the work group to the mayors is attached. It is staff's understanding that the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education has already reviewed the letter and asked the Board Chair to proceed. The Orange County Schools Board of Education is scheduled to review the draft letter at an upcoming meeting. Orange County Planning will organize the research effort. FINANCIAL IMPACT: None at this time. Orange County Planning would use existing staff and other interdepartmental staff to coordinate research with school and municipal staffs. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board review the draft letter, provide any comments for the Board Chair and ask the Board Chair to proceed as necessary. a DRAFT April XX, 2007 Kevin Foy Mark Chilton Tom Stevens Glendale Stevenson Dear Sirs: The Chairs and Vice Chairs of the Orange County Board.of County Commissioners, the Orange County Board of Education, and the Chapel Hill/Carrboro Board of Education have collaborated over the last few years to address a variety of common interests. Our work group's most recent discussions have centered on the County's School Construction Standards. The Standards provider benchmarks for various school construction components. Examples of components outlined in the Standards include square footage, school site acreage, and .student capacity at each school level, elementary, middle and high.. We recognize the fact that 'it is .important to look beyond "traditional schools" -large schools that require 25 to 50 acres of land - to more non- traditional schools that would offer flexibility and accommodate various. local conditions including the availability, or the lack thereof, of land. One of our next tasks is to collaborate with our municipal partners and identify potential future school sites that fit the parameters outlined in the standards. The ultimate goal of this process would be that the County, who is statutorily responsible for funding school construction, might possibly consider opportunities to "land bank" properties that would be suitable for future school sites. As growth and development continues throughout our County, available and suitable future school sites become limited. In turn, we must grow smarter through proactive cooperative .efforts and find appropriate school sites as far in advance of our needs as possible. Land banking will allow the County to find sites that exhibit as many smart growth attributes as possible. Attributes, although not adopted at this point, can include a variety of subjects from public transportation and walkability to green building designed schools and the community communication aspects therein. Our collective past work with regard to the Schools Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (SAPFO) has helped us project future school capital needs for aten-year 3 DRAFT period. There is a healthy amount of lead-time needed before future school doors open for students. Site search and acquisition, financing, regulatory approvals, and building and infrastructure construction can be time consuming aspects. Local governments know their jurisdictions best, from land use regulations and processes to the infrastructure necessary to serve the area in a timely manner. Schools, municipalities, and county government, have worked together in the past and used our local area knowledge and geographic information systems (GIS) to help find prime locations. Our most recent collaboration success was the siting of Carrboro High School. To that end, our work group would like to see this identification process formalized. Based on most recent student membership projections, the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools will need additional elementary and middle school space in the next three-to-six years. Therefore, it seems reasonable to ask our staffs to initiate a pilot school siting process for these facilities in the near future.. Although the pilot program will primarily involve sites within the Chapel Hill Carrboro School District, we envision formalizing the process within the Orange County Schools jurisdictions. By virtue of this letter, the members of the School Collaboration Work Group asks that you convey this proposal to your staff. Key contact staff for our individual entities includes Craig Benedict, Orange County, Steve Scroggs and Bill Mullin, Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools, and George McFarley, Orange County Schools Associate Superintendent. Please forward your entity's representatives to the Clerk to the Board of County Commissioners, Donna Baker by March 15, 2007. Donna's email address is dbaker(~co.orange.nc.us. Thank you, in advance, for your participation in this undertaking. If you have any questions, please feel free to call us. Sincerely, Moses Carey, Jr., Chair, Orange County Board of Commissioners Dennis Whitling, Chair, Orange County Board of Education Jamezetta Bedford, Chair, Chapel Hill/Carrboro City Schools Board CC: Laura Blackmon, Orange County Manager Eric Peterson, Hillsborough Town Manager Roger ~. Stancil, Chapel Hill Town Manager Steve Stewart, Carrboro Town Manager Dr. Shirley Caraway, Orange County Schools Superintendent Dr. Neil Pedersen, Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools Superintendent