AGENDA #8

 

MEMORANDUM

 

 

TO:                  Mayor and Town Council

 

FROM:            W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager

Ralph D. Karpinos, Town Attorney

 

SUBJECT:            Proposed Next Steps:  Schools Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance

 

DATE:            May 7, 2001

 

The attached resolution would direct the Manager and Attorney to request the inter-governmental staff working group that developed the Schools Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance to reconvene to consider issues raised by Council members and citizens on April 23, 2001.

 

DISCUSSION

 

 The proposed Memorandum and Ordinance contemplate that the local governments and school districts would endorse similar regulations and execute Memoranda of Understanding and that the zoning jurisdictions would enact similar regulations requiring a certificate of adequate school capacity in order for an application to be filed for most residential development. 

 

On April 23, 2001, members of the Town Council and citizens raised several questions regarding the proposed Schools Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance and Memorandum of Understanding.  Suggestions were made to modify the process by which a school capacity certificate would be issued.

 

Because the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School District includes Carrboro, most of Chapel Hill, and some unincorporated areas in southern Orange County, in order for the program to work to coordinate development and school capacity, we believe the three governments, Carrboro, Chapel Hill and Orange County, would need to concur in any changes in the proposed Ordinance.  Unilateral changes in the Ordinance without the concurrence of the other public agencies, could affect the ability of any proposed ordinance to achieve the desired goals.

 

Therefore, we believe that it would be appropriate for the staff committee, with representatives from the various agencies, to meet in order to consider the issues which were discussed on April 23, along with any other issues that might have been raised during the consideration of this proposal by the governing boards of the County and other municipalities.

 

We also believe that we should forward information on the status of this project to our consultant for consideration in the development of a proposed new Development Ordinance. We note that the Council has given direction to our Development Ordinance consultant to prepare “Adequate Facilities” provisions for other components of infrastructure as part of the revised Development Ordinance.  The Council may wish to modify that guidance given the current concerns about the Schools Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance.

 

Attached is a draft letter which the Town Attorney proposes to send to the attorneys representing the County and other municipalities identifying some of the concerns raised on April 23, 2001.

 

RECOMMENDATION

 

That the Council adopt the attached resolution directing  the Manager and Attorney to request that the staff working group that developed the Schools Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance reconvene to consider issues raised by Council members and citizens on April 23, 2001.

 

ATTACHMENTS

 

  1. Draft letter from the Town Attorney (p. 4).
  2. E-mail message from Chris Moran, Executive Director of the Inter-faith Council (p. 6).

 

 

 

A RESOLUTION REQUESTING FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF THE SCHOOLS ADEQUATE PUBLIC FACILITIES ORDINANCE (2001-05-07/R-15)

 

BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill that the Town Manager and Town Attorney are hereby directed to request that staff members from other local jurisdictions and the two school boards meet to consider further the questions and comments made by citizens and Council members on April 23, 2001, and to develop a revised recommended program to respond to the concerns raised for further consideration by the various governing boards. 

 

This the 7th day of May, 2001.

ATTACHMENT 1

 

Proposed Letter to Mike Brough, Attorney for Hillsborough and Carrboro and Geoff Gledhill, Attorney for Orange County

 

 

Dear Geoff and Mike:

 

On April 23, 2001, the Chapel Hill Town Council considered at length the proposed Public Schools Facilities Ordinance.  At the end of that discussion the Council voted to refer the Ordinance to the staff for further consideration and directed that I consult with you on a number of issues.  (I believe it may be of some value for you or a member of the staff of your clients’ respective planning departments to review the video tape of the public comments and Town Council discussion.)  On May 7, 2001, the Council considered this matter again and directed Cal Horton and me to request that the staff working group reconvene for further discussion. 

 

Although many Council members expressed general support for the concept of an ordinance under which school capacity would be considered in development decisions, the Council indicated an interest in seeing some changes to the proposal.  The two matters of particular concern to the Council are:

 

  1. The proposed ordinance and memorandum of understanding would appear to allow a single developer to go to the School System and tie up all of the allowance for new residential development, thereby precluding other applicants.  It was noted during the Council’s discussion that some of the applicants would be precluded by such a step could be ones offering amenities that the Council might find particularly desirable, such as affordable housing.

 

  1. The proposed ordinance allows the School System to determine capacity before an application can even be filed with the Town. The Council is interested in whether the ordinance can be adjusted to allow the Council to process a development application and then, just before the Council is prepared to vote on the application, have the applicant seek a certificate from the School System.  One point raised was that this method would preclude a developer from reserving all the available capacity and then holding on to those certificates. 

 

One additional comment made on this issue was that this alternative might allow a more accurate calculation to be made as to whether there is capacity for the development as proposed. Adjustments are often made in the number of lots or dwelling units and their size as an application proceeds through the Town’s development review process.   By delaying the requirement for a certificate until the Council has determined how many units it will likely be considering for approval, the impact on the school system can be judged more precisely. 

 

As can be seen from viewing the video tape, there was concern among Council members that the system as proposed would preclude some applications from ever getting to the Council when the Council might find those applications as ones which would provide benefits to the community.

 

The current proposed Memorandum of Understanding and Ordinance were developed by a joint staff committee including representatives of local governments and both school boards.  During those discussions it was generally understood that for the proposed regulations to work effectively it would be necessary for all planning jurisdictions to adopt essentially the same regulations and agree with the school boards to similar Memoranda of Understanding. 

 

Based on the comments and directions received from the Council by Town Staff, I believe it would be prudent to reconvene the working group and to consider the issues raised by the Chapel Hill Town Council and the citizens attending the Council’s meeting, along with any issues that have been raised by other jurisdictions.  The Town Council, on May 7, 2001, adopted a resolution formally making such a request. 

 

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on these matters.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Ralph D. Karpinos

 

cc:  Mayor and Town Council

       Town Manager

       John McCormick, Attorney for Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools

       Michael Parker, Attorney for Orange County Schools