AG 2001 05 21 - Laserfiche WebLink

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PUBLIC FACILITIES Schools Students residing in the Harrisburg area attend Cabarrus County public schools. The recently opened Harrisburg Elementary School is located on Stallings Road about one mile east of Hickory Ridge Road. This school replaced the original ~.. Harrisburg school which was located at the intersection of Highway 49 and School Circle. The school has a capacity of 1025 students and currently has an enrollment of 859 students. Harrisburg area residents also attend Rocky River Elementary and Bethel Elementary schools. Rocky River Elementary opened for the 1997-1998 school year. It has a capacity of 943 students and its current enrollment is 895. Bethel Elementary serves the extreme southern portion of the planning area. It has a capacity of 528 students and its current enrollment is 437. J. N. Fries Middle School and Central Cabarrus High School serve students in the Town of Harrisburg. They are located in the City of Concord approximately five miles northeast of town. Each school is currently over enrollment capacity. J.N. Fries has an enrollment of 1243 students and a capacity of 839. Central Cabarrus has an enrollment of 1523 students and a core capacity of 1500. Although school officials report that the number of children per household has decreased over time (as has been the case throughout much of the United States), enrollment has significantly increased in both the Town and the County. School officials report that the area facilities, along with many other system schools, can no longer accommodate- the current rate of growth. To relieve growth pressures in Harrisburg area schools, new facilities are under construction. J.M. Robinson High School will open in the Fall of 2001 and have a capacity of 1500 students and Rocky River Middle School will open in the fall of 2002 and accommodate 1200 students. In addition to the facilities mentioned above, it is recognized that additional school sites must be reserved within the planning area as it will not be long before schools are exceeding core capacities. In fact, the Cabarrus County Board estimates that by 2005-2006 Harrisburg and Rocky River Elementary schools as well as J.M. Robinson High School and J.N. Fries Middle School will be over capacity. By 2007-2008, system wide capacities will be at 97 percent for elementary schools, 91 percent for middle schools, and 96 percent for high schools. In light of these estimates, sites for an elementary and high school should be identified for reservation. Based on future infrastructure improvements to the water and sewer systems and roads we can anticipate where new schools will be needed. Within 10 years at least one elementary school and one high school will be needed to serve residents in the planning area. Map 8 identifies potential locations for these schools. A radius is placed around a central point to indicate the optimum locations for the furore schools. Locations were chosen based on existing and future transportation and water/sewer infrastructure. As the need for these schools arise additional analysis within these mapped radius is required to identify properties that meet size, soil, and topographical requirements for each school type. Reservation of these sites can be accomplished through current subdivision regulations or purchase by the County.