AGENDA #5b
MEMORANDUM
TO: Roger L. Stancil, Town Manager
FROM: J.B. Culpepper, Planning Director
SUBJECT: Receipt of 2008 Annual Report for the Schools Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance
DATE: May 19, 2008
PURPOSE
Attached please find a summary of the 2008 Annual Report on the Schools Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance.
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 the 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 which documents capacity and enrollment (membership) at each level (elementary, middle school, high school). The Memorandum also calls for an Annual Report to be prepared in the spring of each year, containing the following information:
- Level of Service (LOS) 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
The Annual Report for 2008 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. The draft report has been posted on the Orange County Planning Department’s web site: http://www.co.orange.nc.us/planning/admin_SAPFOTAC.asp
The 2008 Annual Report is scheduled to be certified by the Orange County Board of Commissioners at a regular meeting in June, 2008. On May 5, Commission Chair Barry Jacobs wrote to Mayor Foy, transmitting the report and inviting comments on this report (Attachment 1).
DISCUSSION
We participated in the preparation of this 2008 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 believe the following conclusions for the Chapel Hill/Carrboro School District are noteworthy, as provided in the Executive Summary:
“CHAPEL HILL/CARRBORO SCHOOL DISTRICT
Elementary School District
A. Exceeded 105% LOS standard this year (current LOS is 105.1%).
B. Decrease in the increase of the growth rate at this level over the next 10 years.
C. Chapel Hill/Carrboro Elementary School #10 (to be named Morris Grove Elementary) is scheduled to open in August 2008.
D. Due partially to reduced class size capacities going into effect the year after Elementary School #10 opens, the projections are showing a need for Elementary School #11 in 2010-11.
Middle School District
A. Does not currently exceed 107% LOS standards (current LOS is 92.3%).
B. Decrease in the increase of the growth rate at this level over the next 10 years.
C. Chapel Hill/Carrboro Middle School #5 is projected to be needed in 2013-14.
High School District
A. Carrboro High School opened in August 2007 with 800 additional seats. Does not currently exceed the 110% LOS standard (current LOS is 94.8%).
B. Increase in the increase of the growth rate at this level over the next 10 years.
C. Expansion of Carrboro High School from the initial capacity of 800 students to the ultimate capacity of 1,200 students is projected to be needed in 2015-16.”
RECOMMENDATION
We recommend that the Council receive the Schools Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance Annual Report from Orange County and provide comments, if any, to the Board of Commissioners.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Transmittal Letter from County Commission Chair with attachments (400 KB pdf) (p. 4).
2. Memorandum of Understanding (2.2 MB pdf) (begin new page 1).