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).
