MEMORANDUM
TO: Roger L. Stancil, Town Manager
FROM: J.B. Culpepper, Planning Director
SUBJECT: Receipt of 2009 Annual Report for the Schools Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance
DATE: April 15, 2009
PURPOSE
Attached please find a summary of the 2009 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. 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 2009 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 2009 Annual Report is scheduled to be certified by the Orange County Board of Commissioners at a regular meeting in May, 2009. On March 18, Commission Chair Valerie Foushee wrote to Mayor Foy, transmitting the report and inviting comments on this report (Attachment 1).
DISCUSSION
We participated in the preparation of this 2009 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
Middle School District
High School District
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