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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 04-29-2004-8a Smart Growth and Schools A summary of the December 2003 meeting of the Triangle J Council of Governments Smart Growth Committee The relationship of smart growth and schools often involves three inter-related themes: • schools as centers of community that can serve a range of conununity functions, be jointly sited with other community facilities such as parks, libraries and comrunity centers, and be linked to surrounding neighborhoods by safe and direct connections for walking and bicycling.. • high-performance schools that use green building techniques to more efficiently use energy and material resources, and minimize environmental impact. • small schools that provide a more intimate and effective environment For learning. The meeting focused on schools as centers of community, but all three themes surfaced in the presentations and discussion. Challenges associated with developing smart growth schools include the following: • Comtnunities must make much greater strides in creating more socioeconomically diverse neighborhoods if they desire more neighborhood oriented schools, since school systems are cormnitted to socioeconomic diversity within each school. ^ To comprehensively address building, site and neighborhood factors, a range of partners not usually involved in school siting and design decisions need to be incorporated into the process.. Roles and responsibilities of partners need to be clearly defined. Building trust among partners is an important element. The process itself may need to be changed or supplemented, using tools and techniques like charrettes, cross-organizational teams, siting and design principles, and planning protocols. Figure 1. Smart Gromth Schools: Brtildirrg, Site, Neighborhood school building- green building small schools school site - center of community green building school neighborhood -center of cormunity Successful approaches to smart growth schools require a comprehensive approach to the school building, the site on which it is located, and the neighbor hood within which it resides. Good Schools, Good Neighborhoods David Salvesen, UNC Center, fol• Urbatr and Regional Studies David Salvesen summarized recent research on the impacts of state and local school board policies on the design and location of schools in North Carolina.. He noted that although the state has guidelines for the acreage of facilities, most communities treat these as requirements. The result has been bigger schools on larger sites, often on more distant sites, due to up-front land and building cost considerations. He described a success story of the new Mary Scruggs Elementary School in Chapel Hill. Planned as part of the Southern Village traditional neighborhood development, the school is two stories, is adjacent to a city park and is well- connected to nearby residential areas with safe walking and bicycling routes. As a result, a third of all students and more than three-quarters of students who live in Southern Village walk or bike to school. See the presentation at: fs://ftp.ticoa.ora/pub/webftp/cursschl.pdf r. ° ..-<. ~<s,:" Figure 2. Afaq~ Scruggs L•lementary School in Chapet NiJt. Smart Growth Schools in Wake County 7yotr Sharma, Director, Facility Planning, Wake County Public School System 4 = '©.. G..4 4 4 4 '4 t,,, ,' 4.Q+ 4 4.r~. c ig -'p ~ ~ I ^ r'' ~' ~~~ L~ ~ E ! r ~ t .~ ~ ~ t-~..i ~. i I t ~ ~ ~ r fba t ;~'i a c ~'~ i t~ i, '~' _~ I~; b ~~" „„.. ~ir~ __~ r,, ..-n ...n... Y' '"Ye`~„'G' C-tJ~GGf"r-r-r,-t-,'{~--3 ri G Figure 3. Award-IVinning Museums hingnet D4/ddte ScBooJ in IVake County Jyoti Sharma described recent efforts in Wake County to develop more compact school sites, co-locate schools with parks, and use high performance guidelines in the design and construction of'schools. She noted that co-location and compact, neighborhood-oriented design takes more work, but is worth the effort in matching community values and providing better service and facilities for citizens. She highlighted the Museums Magnet middle school, a 600-student school built on a 4-acre city block. Innovative site design included using playing fields as storrnwater detention facilities, having the outdoor basketball court double as the car drop off area and using a widened city street as the bus drop of'f' lane. The planned Brier Creek Elementary School will be co-located with a park and community center, saving the city $450,000 and providing the school with a larger activity center than it would have otherwise. See the presentation at: ftu://ftp.ticog.or~/pub/webftphvakeschl.pdf 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. 3. Looking at the broader cost-benefit picture and developing creative financial arrangements can be key ingredients in successful efforts. Counties can save money and acquire better sites by establishing an early acquisition fund to buy sites in advance of need. Counties can promote smart growth siting and designs by offering school boards incentive funds if school smart growth principles are followed. Comparative costs for larger vs. smaller schools should look at the cost per graduate, not per student, as smaller schools tend to have better graduation rates.. Resources There is a growing literature on smart growth and schools. Selected documents include: • Snzart Gtowth Schools: A Fact Sheet, National Trust for I-Iistoric Preservation. http://www.nationaltrust.ora/issues/schools/schools_smartarowth facts.pdf • Education and Stuart Growth Reversing School Sprawl for Better Schools and Communities. Funders' Network For Smart Growth.. http://www.fundersnetwork.or~/ust_doc/education paper.pdf • Good Schools -Good Neighborhoods: The Impacts of State and Local School Board Policies on the Design and Location of Schools in North Carolina. UNC Center for Urban and Regional Studies. http://curs.une.edu/ • Ni.rtoric Neig/zborhood Schools in the Age oJSprarvl: Why Jo/uuz,y Can't Wallr to School, National Trust for Historic Preservation, http://www.nationaltrmst.orQ/issues/schoolsRpt.pdf • Se/tools as Centers of Connnaniry A Citizen's Guide for Planning and Design. U,S. Department of L-ducation. http://www.cefpi.or~/pdf/schools.pdf • Travel and Environnzentnl Lnpacts of School Siting. U,S. Environmental Protection Agency. http://www.epa.QOV/livability/school travel.hun These and other documents are available from the T7COG staff. For more information on high performance guidelines or green building and schools, see the TJCOG web site: hum//www.tico~.dst.nc.us/lrnRttnf.hdn An excellent resource for documents and web sites on smart growth schools is the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities at: http://www.edfacilities.orR/rl/smarC~rowth.cfm Smart Growth is a pattern of development in the region that sustains community and economic development; strong neighborhoods with diverse housing, cotmnercial, and transportation options; and healthy communities with a clean environment Smart Growth: • provides choicer in housing and transportation, • makes efficient ztse of public investments such as schools and transportation systems, • safeguards community and environmental values. In the Research Triangle Region, smart growth is exemp]ified by eight regional development, conservation and mobility principles adopted by the Triangle J Council of Governments, the Greater Triangle Regional Council and the Triangle Smart Growth Coalition, available at: ftp://ftp,tjeog.org/pub/webftp/regprin.pdf Triangle J Council of Governments Smart Growth Committee E.Ilen Recklrow, Durham County, Committee Chair Staff`..7ohn Hodges-Copple, Ben Hitchings http: //www.. tjcog. d st, nc, us/ January 2004