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Page 1 of 2 <br /> <br />John Day <br /> <br />From: <br /> <br />Sent: <br /> <br />To: <br /> <br />Subject: <br /> <br />Aimee Hawkins <br /> <br />Thursday, May 20, 2004 10:24 AM <br /> <br />_Aging; _Arena & Events Center; _BOC; _CMGR/HR; _Commerce; _Construction Standards; <br />_CoopExt; _Department Heads; _DSS; _Economic Development; _Elections; <br />_EmergencyManagement; _EMS; _EMS All Stations; _EMS_lst Resp Liaison; _EMS_A_Shift; <br />_EMS_B_Shift; _EMS_C_Shift; _EMS_FTO; _Enviornmental Protection; _Finance; _GenServices; <br />_GIS; _Helpdesk; _Human Resource; _Information Services; _Land Records; _Library Concord; <br />_Library Harrisburg; _Library Kannapolis; _Library Mt. Pleasant; _Parks & Rec; _Planning & <br />Development; _Register; _Revaluation; _Sheriff; _Sheriff_Communications; _Soil and Water; _Solid <br />Waste; _Tax Assessor; _Tax Collect; _Transportation; _Veterans; _Zoning Administration <br /> <br />News Release: School Development <br /> <br />Aimee L. Hawkins <br />Pubhc Information OEicer, Cabarrus County <br />Phone: 704-920-2336 <br />Email: alhawkin s~cabarruscounty, us <br /> <br />Education Committee Endorses First-of-Its-Kind Principles for School Development <br /> <br />May 20, 2004 - The Community Committee on Education Capital Planning and Financing recently endorsed a set <br />of guiding principles for school development that is the first of its kind in North Carolina. These principles will <br />allow the school systems to provide the needed facilities to accommodate student population growth while <br />ensuring that school locations and designs are environmentally sound and, when possible, integrate within <br />existing communities. <br /> <br />"The current system for school financing and construction creates adversarial roles among counties and boards of <br />education," said Cabarrus County Manager John Day. "This collaborative effort among the agencies in Cabarrus <br />County could be used as a model for state legislation to vastly improve the process of building and siting schools <br />across the state." <br /> <br />Under the committee's direction, maffs with Cabarrus County, Kannapolis City Schools and Cabarrus County <br />Schools worked to create a set of principles that will guide community leaders as they seek new school sites <br />which will integrate with existing neighborhoods and not encourage development of additional subdivisions in <br />sparsely populated areas that are cosily to serve. This plan was presented at the committee meeting May 18. <br /> <br />Thc principles arc divided into three categories: site location, site design, and implementation. Thc overall <br />purpose of the site location guidelines is to ensure that school placement does not encourage new growth in <br />locations where governmental agencies are not prepared to provide necessary services. Site design principles call <br />for schools that are easily and safely accessible to pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists and that are designed to <br />enhance the streetseape, utilize as liRle acreage as possible and incorporate environmental best practices. <br /> <br />The implementation principles note that all agencies that have an interest in school location and construction <br />decisions be invited to participate in the overall process. These principles also call for a predictable and repeatable <br />process to guide the decision-making process among staff and elected officials. <br /> <br />At the meeting, committee members favored a school payment plan that combines pay-as-you-go and financing <br />methods. This option would raise the county tax rate by 11 cents and would fund $99.7 million in school <br />construction projects to be put before voters in a November general education bond referendum. This model also <br />could be used for future school bond referendums which are expected to come before voters in 2006 and 2008. <br /> <br />5/20/2004 ~-~ <br /> <br /> <br />