EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

MAYOR AND BOARD OF ALDERMEN

DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING & COMMUnity DEVELOPMENT

Date SUBMITTED:                         August 3, 2006      

DATE OF WORKSHOP SESSION:  August 9, 2006

date of public MEETING:        N/A

 

To:                 MAYOR & Board of ALDERMEN

From:           Chuck Boyd, Deputy Director of Planning & Community Development

RE:                  Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO)

 

 

PURPOSE:     To present to the Mayor & Board of Aldermen information on an APFO. 

 

HISTORY:  With recent election, there has been a renewed push for the City of Frederick to adopt an Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO).  Frederick County adopted an APFO for roads, schools, sewer and water on December 1, 1991.  Since that time, the County ordinance has had several revisions. 

 

In 1997 & 1998, the City of Frederick established a committee to develop an APFO for only schools. This committee produced a draft plan that was never adopted.  In creating an APFO for schools, the committee found three major problems:

 

1)      Decision about school construction and redistricting essentially became decision as to where developments can be approved.  These decisions are made by the County and the Board of Education and not the City of Frederick.

2)      The APFO often passes small projects and fails larger project (unless the phasing option is used).  To pass there must be enough seats available today for all students who would come from a development when totally built out.

3)      The County APFO is very strict and would not allow for exceptions that promote other City goals and objectives like affordable housing or downtown redevelopment.     

 

There are other municipalities in the County that currently have an APFO.  These include: Brunswick, Emmitsburg, Mt Airy, and Walkersville.  These ordinances vary with the issues facing each jurisdiction.  For instance, Walkersville only reviews the adequacies of schools & water and Brunswick reviews water, sewer, roads & schools. 

 

Other jurisdictions within the state that have APFO’s include:

 

Counties with Adequate Public Facilities Ordinances

Anne Arundel Carroll Harford Prince George’s Washington, Baltimore, Charles, Howard, Queen Anne’s, Calvert, Frederick, Montgomery, St. Mary’s

 

Municipalities with Adequate Public Facilities Ordinances

Boonsboro, Emmitsburg, Laurel, New Windsor, Walkersville, Brunswick, Hagerstown, Manchester, Sykesville, Cumberland, Hampstead, Mount Airy, Taneytown (Source: HB 1205)

 

 

DISCUSSION:  This workshop is a follow up to the 7/19/06 & 8/2/06 workshops.  At the 7/19/06 workshop, the Mayor & Board of Aldermen requested that staff from Brunswick, Carroll & Howard Counties be invited to discuss their APFO’s. 

 

At the 8/2/06 workshop, we were give information 8/2/06 from Mayor Jones & Rich Stup concerning Brunswick’s APFO.  The purpose of this workshop is to allow the elected officials to discuss Howard & Carroll Counties APFO with the staff that administers it on a daily basis. 

 

Carroll & Howard Counties APFO have an allocation component.  Howard Counties takes the allocation process one step further and divides the county into sub regions for the allocation process.  Attached is a general information handout dealing with Howard County’s AFPO. 

 

Staff believes that an allocation process would work well for the City of Frederick; the process of an allocation system is not new to the City of Frederick.   The City of Frederick’s Water Allocation Ordinance has been in place since 2002.  An allocation system gives a predictable method of determining the future growth of a municipality.  If the staff and elected officials know that their jurisdiction is going to grow by 700 units each year, the determining projected income, expenses and CIP projects also becomes more predictable. 

 

By adding sub regions to the allocation process, the allocation process further directs growth within the municipality.  If the municipality has limited capacity in one region, then the amount of allocation to that region can be reduced until their in sufficient capacity in that region to accommodate growth.  Using the example of 700 units that would be allocated during year that number could be broken down into 50 units in Region A, 150 units in Region B, 200 in Region C and 300 in Region D.  If this concept is of interest, staff will continue the conversation at another workshop. 

 

Staff is proposing the following schedule for upcoming workshops:

 

August 9         Howard & Carroll Counties APFO

                                    Allocation APFO’s

August 16       Ray Barnes FCPS

                                    CIP process

                                    School Construction Process

State Rate Capacity

August 23       Explanation of Allocation Hybrid Method

                                    Discussion of sub regions

August 30       Staff questions & direction from the Mayor & Board of Aldermen

 

 

 

RECOMMENDATION:  Staff has no recommendations at this time.

 

 

BACKUP INCLUDED:          Howard County’s APFO Handout

                                                 

           

           

REVIEWED BY DEPARTMENT HEAD:    Charles W. Boyd 

 

CONCURRENCE BY:

                                                               Date                                                                       Date

FINANCE                          ________ _______        LEGAL       ________       ________

 

CITIZEN SERVICES                   ________ _______        FPD             ________       ________

 

DEPT. PUBLIC WORKS   ________           _______        PLANNING  ________       ________

 

ENGINEERING                 ________            _______        CIP              ________       ________