(A) Scope. All public elementary, middle and high schools serving the proposed subdivision shall be adequate.
(B) APFO test data.
(1) The Frederick County Public Schools will publish actual enrollment data for the last school day of September, December, March and June and the state rated capacity for each elementary and secondary school. Adequacy of every elementary, middle and high school serving the proposed development shall be determined as of the APFO test date, using the most recent quarterly enrollment data published by the Frederick County Public Schools. If approval has not been received from the Planning Commission within 6 months of the APFO test date, the most recent quarterly school enrollment data must be utilized by the Commission for APFO review unless a delay occurs not attributable to the applicant.
(2) Pupil generation rates shall be determined using the formulas adopted by the Frederick County Public Schools and shall reflect the characteristics of the school attendance area within which the proposed development is located. Pupil yield from the proposed development shall be pro-rated over the number of years for which APFO approval is sought. State rated capacities and pupil generation rates approved for use by the Frederick County Public Schools shall be used in all calculations.
(C) Adequacy testing. Schools shall be considered adequate if the enrollment for each school serving the development is less than 100% of state-rated capacity during the entire period for which APFO approval is granted by the Planning Commission. School adequacy shall be determined based on:
(1) Background enrollment growth, extrapolated over the number of years for which APFO approval is requested;
(2) Projected enrollment growth, including pupils anticipated to be generated by "approved developments", as defined in § 1-20-5(B);
(3) Pupils anticipated to be generated by the proposed development using pupil generation rates adopted by the Frederick County Public Schools;
(4) Actual capacity expected to be provided by new schools and school additions scheduled for construction in the first 2 years of the CIP (provided that the CIP project and the proposed development are located within the same school attendance boundaries, including areas where redistricting boundaries have been approved) after taking the factors listed above in (C)(1), (2) and (3) into account; and
(5) Other enrollment data, trends and factors, including phasing in of new school capacity, that may impact the capacity of the schools serving the proposed development, as determined by the BOE or its designee.
(D) Procedure. County staff shall send a written request to the BOE or its designee, requesting a school adequacy test, and specifying: (1) the number of years for which the development should be tested; (2) the number and types of residential units to be tested; and (3) data concerning the approved developments in the school attendance areas that should be factored into the test. The BOE or its designee shall forward its school adequacy test results to county staff for presentation to the Planning Commission. After consideration of the school adequacy test results at a public meeting, the Planning Commission shall determine whether the proposed development meets the school adequacy requirements in this Article VI.
(E) Request to redistrict. If a school is not adequate as defined in § 1-20-61(C) and an adjoining school district at the same level is at least 20% below state rated capacity, then the applicant may request the Frederick County Board of Education (BOE) to determine the viability of redistricting to accommodate the new development. If the BOE determines that redistricting is a viable alternative, and the BOE approves a specific redistricting plan that would result in all the schools serving the proposed development meeting the standards established in § 1-20-61(C), then the schools shall be considered adequate.
(F) Denial. If a school is not adequate and the BOE has not approved a specific redistricting plan that would result in the school meeting the standards established in § 1-20-61(C), then the preliminary subdivision, PUD or MXD Phase II or site plan approval shall be denied, except as allowed for in § 1-20-10.
(G) Mitigation. Improvements necessary to meet the standards herein shall be determined by the Planning Commission and may be provided by the developer as allowed for in § 1-20-11.
(H) New school or addition. If a new school or school addition is required to be wholly or partially funded by a developer in order for a proposed development to obtain APFO approval under § 1-20-11 of this article, and if the new school or school addition is approved by the BOE:
(1) The portion of the school capacity funded by the developer and required for APFO approval for the development may not be utilized by any other development to obtain APFO approval until the expiration of the APFO approval period for the development that funded the school improvements.
(2) Upon the completion of construction of the new school or school addition, the development that funded the school improvements shall not be subject to further APFO testing for the school level at which the developer-funded improvements were provided (elementary, middle or high school) unless the density or intensity of the development increases.
(I) School renovations.
(1) For the purposes of determining adequacy under this section, the available capacity of a school which is completely or partially closed for renovation shall be the percentage of the school state- rated capacity available and certified for use by the Board of Education or designated FCPS staff. One hundred percent of the available state-rated capacity of the school under renovation shall be considered to be available 6 months prior to the expected renovation completion date as certified by the Board of Education or designated FCPS facilities staff.
(2) For the purposes of determining adequacy under this section, the available capacity of a school which is being utilized to serve students from another school which is under renovation shall be the percentage of the school state-rated capacity available and certified for use by the Board of Education or designated FCPS staff. One hundred percent of the available state-rated capacity of the school shall be considered to be available 6 months prior to the expected renovation completion date as certified by the Board of Education or designated FCPS facilities staff.
(J) Multifamily residential developments.
(1) A multifamily residential development may retain its APFO school adequacy approval if the multifamily residential development satisfies both of the following requirements:
(a) The Planning Commission has previously granted both site plan and APFO approvals for the multifamily residential development; and
(b) Prior to expiration of APFO approval, the developer has recorded in the land records a plat of the multifamily residential development property that includes a note indicating the following information, on which the Planning Commission approval was based:
(i) The number and type of multifamily dwelling units approved, and
(ii) The total number of students projected to be generated by the multifamily residential development.
(2) The County Attorney's office must approve the language of the plat note described in subsection (J)(1)(b) prior to plat recordation.
(3) The Planning Commission may approve a change in the number and type of multifamily dwelling units, so long as the total number of students projected to be generated by the revised multifamily residential development does not exceed the total number of students stated in the plat note described in subsection (J)(1)(b).
(4) Recordation of a plat in accordance with this subsection shall not prevent site plan expiration.
(Ord. 98-03-205, 3-17-1998; Ord. 00-19-261, 7-11-2000; Ord. 06-04-400, 1-17-2006; Ord. 08-14-490, 6-3-2008; Ord. 09-19-523, 7-7-2009; Ord. 10-26-561, 11-9-2010; Ord. 11-25-591, 10-27-2011; Ord. 14-23-678, 11-13-2014)