§ 4.02.08. Public School Facilities

A.

School Concurrency Service Areas

1.

School Concurrency Service Areas (CSAs) shall be used to determine if adequate school capacity is available based on the adopted level of service standards.

2.

The School Concurrency Service Areas (CSAs) for the County, as provided for in the Public School Facilities Element of the Comprehensive Plan (PSFE) and the Interlocal Agreement, shall be coterminous with the school attendance zones for elementary, middle and high schools as shown on Figures 2, 3 and 4 incorporated in the data and analysis of the PSFE. For special schools, i.e., schools without attendance boundaries, magnets and some career high schools, and charter schools, the concurrency service area shall be district-wide.

B.

Process for School Concurrency Implementation

1.

The County shall manage the timing of residential subdivision approvals and site development plan approvals to ensure adequate school capacity is available consistent with adopted level of service standards for public school concurrency.

2.

The issuance of Subdivision Final Plat approval and Site Development Construction Plan approval for residential development shall be subject to the availability of adequate school capacity required by this Part, the PSFE, the Capital Improvements Element and Section 163.3180(13)(e) F.S.

C.

Applicability Standards

1.

School concurrency applies only to residential development or a phase of residential development requiring a subdivision plat approval, site development plan approval, or its functional equivalent approved after the effective date of the PSFE.

2.

The following residential development shall be considered exempt from the school concurrency requirements;

a.

Single family lots of record having received Subdivision Final Plat approval prior to the effective date of the PSFE, or single family subdivision plats actively being reviewed as of the effective date of the PSFE that have received Subdivision Preliminary Plat approval and/or Subdivision Construction Plan approval and there is no lapse in the development approval status.

b.

Multi-family residential development having received Site Development Construction Plan approval prior to the effective date of the PSFE, or multi-family site development plans actively being reviewed as of the effective date of the PSFE that have received Preliminary Site Development Plan approval and/or Site Development Construction Plan approval and there is no lapse in the development approval status.

c.

Amendments to residential development approvals, which were previously approved prior to the effective date of the PSFE, and which do not increase the number of students generated by the development based on the student generation rates for each school type.

d.

Age restricted 55-plus developments that are subject to deed restrictions prohibiting the permanent occupancy of a resident under the age of 55. Such deed restrictions must be recorded and must be irrevocable for a period of at least 30 years.

e.

Group jails, prisons, hospitals, bed and breakfast, motels and hotels, temporary emergency shelters for the homeless, adult halfway houses, firehouse dorms, college dorms exclusive of married student housing, and religious non-youth facilities.

f.

Development that does not generate at least one full student at the elementary school level, utilizing the applicable student multipliers in effect at the time of submittal.

D.

Capacity Determination Standards

1.

The School Board shall conduct a concurrency review that includes findings and recommendations of whether there is adequate school capacity to accommodate the proposed development for each type of school within the affected CSA consistent with the adopted LOS standard.

a.

Adequate school capacity is the circumstance where there is sufficient school capacity, based on adopted LOS standards, to accommodate the demand created by a proposed development.

b.

The School Board's findings and recommendations shall address whether adequate capacity exists for each level of school, based on the level of service standards, or if adequate capacity does not exist, whether appropriate mitigation can be accepted.

c.

If mitigation can be accepted, the School Board's findings shall identify the accepted form of mitigation that is consistent with the policies set forth herein.

The County will issue a concurrency determination based on the School Board's written findings and recommendations.

2.

The School Board shall determine whether there is adequate capacity to accommodate a proposed development based on the level of service standards according to the procedures established in the Interlocal Agreement.

E.

Availability Standard

1.

The County shall approve for purposes of school concurrency a subdivision plat or site development plan for residential development when:

a.

The School Board's findings indicate adequate school facilities will be in place or under actual construction within three years after the issuance of the subdivision plat or site development plan for each level of school, OR

b.

Adequate school facilities are available in a contiguous CSA and the impacts of development shall be shifted to that CSA provided that impacts may not be shifted if the adjacent school's enrollment plus capacity reserved through school concurrency agreements/certificates is 95 percent or greater of Florida Inventory of School House (FISH) capacity. Capacity improvements within the first three years of the School District's Work Plan as described in the PSFE must also be included when determining the actual capacity of a school. Where more than one concurrency service area is available to accommodate student impacts, the School Board shall evaluate how the impacts of that development shall be shifted. Measures to maximize capacity including modifications to concurrency service areas in lieu of shifting development impacts can be considered. CSAs which are not adjacent to each other in any physical location but are separated by a major water body (e.g. Tampa Bay, Hillsborough Bay) are not considered to be "adjacent" or "contiguous" for the purpose of "shifting" the impacts of new development pursuant to the PSFE and the Interlocal Agreement, OR

c.

The developer executes a legally binding commitment to provide mitigation proportionate to the demand for public school facilities to be created by the actual development of the property subject to the Subdivision Final Plat or Site Development Plan, OR

d.

The applicant, the School Board and the County enter into a legally binding Development Agreement authorized by Sections 163.3220-163.3243 Florida Statutes, as approved by the School District.

2.

In evaluating a subdivision plat or site development plan for concurrency, programmed improvements in years 1-3 of the School District Five Year Facilities Plan as adopted in the Capital Improvements Element (CIE) shall be considered available capacity for the project and factored into the level of service analysis provided that the School District has identified a suitable site (pursuant to the terms of the Interlocal Agreement) to construct the project and that the programmed improvement will be in place or under actual construction within three years after the issuance of the subdivision plat or site development plan. Any relevant programmed improvements for which a suitable site has not been identified by the School District (pursuant to the terms of the Interlocal Agreement) or will not be in place or under construction within the first three years of the five-year schedule of improvements shall not be considered available capacity for the project unless funding for the improvement is assured through School Board funding to accelerate the project, through proportionate share mitigation, or some other means of assuring adequate capacity will be available within three years.

F.

Proportionate Share Mitigation

1.

Mitigation shall be allowed for those developments that cannot meet the adopted level of service standards. Mitigation options shall include options listed below for which the School District assumes operational responsibility through incorporation into the adopted CIE and which will maintain adopted level of service standards. Mitigation proposals shall be acceptable to the School Board.

a.

The donation, construction, or funding of school facilities sufficient to offset the demand for public school facilities created by the proposed development;

b.

The creation of mitigation banking within designated areas based on the construction of a public school facility in exchange for the right to sell capacity credits. Capacity credits shall be sold only to developments within the same CSA or an adjacent CSA;

c.

Establishment of a Charter School with facilities constructed in accordance with the State Requirements for Educational Facilities (SREF) and consistent with the School District's Prototype Educational Specifications in use at the time of construction; and

d.

Establishment of an Educational Benefit District.

2.

Mitigation shall be directed toward a permanent capacity improvement identified in the School Board's CIE, which satisfies the deficiencies created by the proposed development consistent with the adopted level of service standards. Relocatable classrooms will not be accepted as mitigation. In no event shall an improvement be smaller in size than a single classroom. Type 2 Modular Units shall not be considered relocatables for the purpose of proportionate share mitigation.

3.

Mitigation shall be directed to projects on the School Board's CIE that the School Board agrees will satisfy the demand created by that development approval, and shall be assured by a legally binding development agreement between the School Board, the County, and the applicant which shall be executed prior to the County's issuance of the Subdivision Final Plat or the Site Development Construction Plan approval. If the School Board agrees to the mitigation, the School Board must commit in the agreement to placing the improvement required for mitigation in its next scheduled update to the CIE.

4.

The applicant's total proportionate share mitigation obligation to resolve a capacity deficiency shall be determined pursuant to the procedures established in the PSFE and Interlocal Agreement as follows:

Multiply the number of deficient student stations needed to serve the development by the State average costs per student station at the time of construction (as adopted in Ch. 1013.64 FS) for each school type. The State average cost per student station includes school facility construction costs contract costs, legal and administrative costs, fees of architects and engineers, furniture and equipment and site improvement costs. It does not include the cost of land purchase or lease, extraordinary site preparation costs, hurricane hardening of structures and off-site infrastructure costs that are typically borne by the School District, that may be necessary to serve the school. Costs for these items shall be included as part of the proportionate share calculations as appropriate. Pursuant to Section 163.3180(13)(e)(2), F.S., the applicant's proportionate-share mitigation obligation shall be credited toward any other impact or exaction fee imposed by local ordinance for the same need, on a dollar-for-dollar basis, at fair market value.

Summary of the Concurrency Evaluation and Proportionate Share Mitigation

 

Step 1:  Determine the number of students to be generated by the development
 
Number of Dwelling Units in the proposed development (by unit type)
MULTIPLIED BY

Student Generation Rate (by type of DU and by School Type)
EQUALS

Number Students Stations needed to serve the proposed development

Step 2:  Comparing the available capacity to the number of student stations calculated in Step 1 to assess the need for mitigation
 
Available Capacity (see § 5.5.3 b of the Interlocal Agreement)
MINUS

The Number of new Students Stations needed to accommodate the proposed development
EQUALS

The shortfall (negative number) or surplus (positive number) of capacity to serve the development

Step 3:  Evaluating the available capacity in contiguous service areas
If Step 2 results in a negative number, repeat that step for one or more contiguous service areas. If this step results in a negative number, then proceed to step 4 to calculate the proportionate share mitigation.

Step 4:  Calculating proportionate share mitigation
 
Needed additional Student Stations from Step 3
MULTIPLIED BY

Average cost per Student Station plus additional costs
EQUALS

Proportionate-Share Mitigation Obligation

 

 

At the time of initial adoption of the PSFE, the student generation rates are those found in the Comprehensive Impact Fee Study dated June 2004 prepared for Hillsborough County by Duncan Associates in association with Dr. James C. Nicholas. The student generation rates will be periodically reviewed and updated by the School District as provided in the Interlocal Agreement.

(Ord. No. 08-10, § 2(Exh. A), 7-10-08)