The Washington County Commissioners have taken testimony and input on revisions to the county’s Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO), but do not expect to act on the current proposal. Following a hearing this week, the Commissioners delayed action for further attention, possibly later this month.
From coverage in the Herald-Mail:
Currently, the five commissioners do not have a set formula for determining what developers should pay when a project is expected to put student populations over their schools’ rated capacities.
The proposed amendment, called an Alternate Mitigation Contribution, is being considered to allow development to proceed when schools are over capacity by charging a cost under a formula developed by county officials.
Stephen Goodrich, director of planning and zoning, stressed that the mitigation formula only would be used if a development is projected to put a school at or over capacity — deemed 90 percent for elementary schools or 100 percent for middle and high schools.
The fee would be applicable up to 120 percent of rated capacity, according to Goodrich. Anything above that would need to be evaluated and negotiated on a case-by-case basis, as the commissioners have handled mitigation proposals in the past, he said.