All residential new development shall be served by public schools
that:
A.
Are currently adequate;
B.
Have funded construction capacity, exclusive of any capacity created
pursuant to a developer-funded mitigation program, scheduled for completion
within the same school attendance area in the current or the next
year of the approved Washington County capital improvement program
(CIP) following final plat or site plan approval, to be adequate based
upon 90% of elementary school state-rated capacity and to be adequate
based on 100% of state-rated capacity for middle schools and high
schools; or
C.
Have been identified by the Board of Education (BOE) as part of an
approved redistricting plan scheduled to occur in the current or the
next year of final plat or site plan approval that will render the
public schools adequate.
Funded construction capacity to be created by a mitigation program
may not be used in a determination of adequacy for any developer other
than the developers who are parties to the mitigation program.
Article V of this chapter does not apply to:
A.
New development to be developed exclusively for nonresidential uses;
B.
New development to be developed according to federal regulations
restricting occupancy in the dwelling units to elderly persons;
C.
Public or private elementary and secondary schools and public safety
facilities; or
D.
Minor subdivisions.
The BOE shall provide actual enrollment data to the Mayor and
Council of the Town for the last school day of September, December,
March and June and the state-rated capacity for each elementary and
secondary school.
The Planning Commission shall determine whether public school
facilities are adequate for the proposed new development upon recommendation
by the Town Planner after evaluating enrollment information provided
by the BOE. The Planning Commission shall determine that a school
is adequate if the school has the capacity as follows:
A.
Elementary schools are adequate if the school has available capacity
to accommodate student enrollment, including new development, without
exceeding 90% of the state-rated capacity (SRC) for each school.
B.
Middle schools and high schools are adequate if the school has available
capacity to accommodate student enrollment, including new development,
without exceeding the state-rated capacity established for each school.
D.
Final approval will not be granted for developments in the review
process until the affected schools obtain adequate status.
A.
Adequacy of every elementary, middle and high school serving the
proposed development shall be tentatively measured at the time of
preliminary consultation and preliminary plat review and shall be
finally measured and determined as of the date of final plan submission
or the first date upon which all necessary documentation and materials
have been submitted, whichever occurs last, based upon data as published
by the BOE.
B.
If approval has not been received from the Planning Commission within
six months of the date of plan submission, the most recent quarterly
school enrollment data must be utilized by the Commission for adequate
public facilities review unless a delay occurs not attributable to
the applicant.
C.
For determining adequacy, "enrollment" shall mean the total of the
BOE official enrollment figures, background enrollment, pupils generated
from the proposed development, and other previously approved developments,
including those in municipalities.
D.
Pupil generation rates shall be determined using the formulas proposed
by the BOE and adopted by the Board of County Commissioners and shall
reflect the characteristics of the school attendance area within which
the proposed development is located.
E.
If a school is not adequate as defined in § 300-21 and an adjoining school district at the same level is at least 20% below state-rated capacity, then the applicant may request the BOE to determine the viability of redistricting to accommodate the new development. If the Planning Commission determines that redistricting is a viable alternative, then the school shall be considered adequate. Any decision as to approval of a specific redistricting plan lies solely with the Board of Education.
F.
Except as otherwise provided in this article, if a school is not adequate and the BOE has not approved a specific redistricting plan that would result in the school meeting the standards established in § 300-21, then the final subdivision or site plan approval shall be denied, except as provided for in § 300-40.
G.
Any developer proposal to create improvements to meet adequacy shall
be submitted to the Board of Education for recommendations and reviewed
under any BOE adopted mitigation policy then in effect and be subject
to the standards and review processes of the Interagency Committee
on School Construction (IAC) of the Maryland Board of Public Works.
H.
Background enrollment growth will be extrapolated over the number
of years for which approval is requested. Included in the calculations
shall be any additional approved but unplatted major preliminary plan
developments in the affected area which might impact the historical
growth trend to make it inaccurate or obsolete.
I.
The Planning Commission may require phasing or an annual maximum
build-out rate to plan for future adequacy.
A.
The Mayor and Council of the Town shall have the authority to limit
the number of building permits issued by the Town in any school attendance
area. The decision to limit building permits shall be based on the
recommendation of the Planning Commission, upon receipt of a recommendation
from the BOE, taking into consideration the adequacy of the school
attendance area and enrollment capacity in immediately adjacent school
attendance areas.
B.
The Mayor and Council of the Town shall have the authority to cap
the number of residential building lots approved for development on
an annual basis.
