AGENDA #4i
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Endorsement of 2006 Annual Report for the Schools Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance
DATE: May 8, 2006
The attached resolution would endorse a 2006 Annual Report as part of the Schools Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance Memorandum of Agreement.
BACKGROUND
Chapel Hill participates with Orange County, Carrboro, and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools in management of a Schools Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance. A Memorandum of Understanding executed by each elected body sets forth the structure of this system. A copy of the Memorandum of Understanding is included here as Attachment 2. The basic premise of this system is that, once the adequacy of schools has been achieved (in terms of capacity compared to student enrollment), no new residential construction can be authorized that would push schools over agreed-upon capacities.
The Memorandum of Understanding calls for information to be prepared and adopted each fall documenting capacity and enrollment (membership) at each level (elementary, middle school, high school). That report was prepared and adopted on schedule during the fall-winter of 2005. The Memorandum also calls for an Annual Report to be prepared in the spring of each year, containing the following information:
- Level of Service at each level (elementary, middle, high)
- Building Capacity at each school
- Membership information (enrollment)
- Status of Capital Investment Plan
- Student membership growth rate
- Housing generation rate
An Annual Report for 2006 with this information has been prepared by a Technical Advisory Committee led by the Orange County Planning Department and made up of staff members from each participating jurisdiction. A copy of the Executive Summary of the report is attached (part of Attachment 1). The draft report has been posted on the Orange County Planning Department’s web site (http://www.co.orange.nc.us/planning/index.htm).
The 2006 Annual Report is tentatively scheduled to be certified by the Orange County Board of Commissioners at a regular meeting on May 16, 2006. On April 11, Commission Chair Barry Jacobs wrote to Mayor Foy, inviting comments from the Chapel Hill Town Council on this report.
DISCUSSION
We participated in the preparation of this 2006 Annual Report, and have reviewed this version that is under consideration for certification. We believe that the numbers describing enrollment (membership) and capacity are accurate, and that the projections of future capacity and future membership are reasonable.
We suggest that, for Chapel Hill, the following conclusions from the materials are noteworthy:
RECOMMENDATION
We recommend that the Council endorse this report for certification by the Orange County Board of Commissioners.
ATTACHMENTS