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SCHOOL CAPACITY REVIEW

When planning for growth, schools are an essential component of a community’s infrastructure. Schools help define a community’s quality of life, influence development decisions, and are a factor in where people choose to live. Strengthening the link between planning for growth and planning for schools to assure adequate school capacity is the primary purpose behind the School Capacity and Concurrency review processes. These processes are described in greater detail within the applicable Interlocal Agreements found below.

 
Capacity Review

Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) reviews residential development applications and assesses the availability of school capacity for projects seeking a future land use map amendment or rezoning that increases residential density. This information is used by the local government to review the impacts of proposed entitlements on the school facilities and make an informed decision based on those impacts.

Prior to July 1, 2019, the Capacity review process involved an enhancement and mitigation procedure for schools that were over capacity and would be affected by additional units created by a future land use change or a rezoning. The Capacity Enhancement process was not concurrency, and the review occurred earlier in the process than concurrency. Mitigation pledged or provided through a Capacity Enhancement Agreement (CEA) was credited toward future concurrency mitigation.

Concurrency Review

School Concurrency was signed into law on June 24, 2005 as part of Senate Bill 360, an Act Relating to Infrastructure Planning and Funding. SB 360 amended the 1985 Growth Management Act, which required that certain infrastructure, e.g., sanitary sewer, solid waste, drainage, potable water, parks and recreation, and transportation, be subject to concurrency.

School concurrency applies only to residential development. For a residential plat, or functional equivalent, to be permitted, adequate school capacity must be available or under development at the time of the plat. If capacity is not available, the developer, school district and affected local government must work together to find a way to provide capacity before the development can proceed, through execution of a Concurrency Mitigation Agreement (CMA).

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Student Generation Rates

Informal Capacity Inquiries

Informal Capacity Inquiries are available to anyone who needs to check school conditions on a property. The results of this analysis are not binding, and are subject to change. You may conduct your own analysis using the School Capacity Data on this page.

Formal Application

To apply for binding capacity enhancement determination as part of your future land use or rezoning application, you must work with the applicable local government to complete the OCPS application.

To obtain school concurrency in unincorporated Orange County, you must apply through Orange County Government's Concurrency Office.  To obtain school concurrency in a municipality, you must work with the municipality to complete the OCPS application. OCPS will not review an application until it is complete and contains the signature of the city/town planning official.