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TALKS HIT ROADBLOCK

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By RONNIE BLAIR, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 31, 2007

LAND O' LAKES - The topic was schools, but roads took center stage Tuesday as the Pasco County School Board and the Pasco County Commission met jointly in a two-hour workshop.

The two elected bodies are trying to work out an interlocal agreement that will be part of the county's concurrency plan, a state requirement that ties the development of new homes to school capacity.

The main question that stumped the board and the commission: Who pays for road improvements when a new school brings more traffic to an area?

The school board says the county should pay. The county commission suggests the school board should pay.

Marge Whaley, the school board chairwoman, and Ann Hildebrand, the commission chairwoman, said enough is enough.

They plan to co-chair a committee of staff members from the school district and the county to try to find common ground and develop a compromise both sides can live with.

'We need to get this resolved,' Hildebrand said.

The road issue isn't new.

'We've been through it year after year,' County Attorney Robert Sumner said.

The school district historically has maintained that it should pay for roads, sidewalks and other infrastructure only when they are on school property. Off-site infrastructure is the purview of the county, they insist.

The county sees things differently. County Administrator John Gallagher said a new school can lead to road improvements costing millions of dollars.
County Commissioner Michael Cox told Superintendent Heather Fiorentino that the resulting loggerhead between the two governmental bodies is frustrating.

'You are taking one side of the issue and Mr. Gallagher is taking the other side of the issue, and nothing is getting done,' Cox said.
School board member Allen Altman agreed it was time to settle the differences.

'The bottom line is the taxpayers pay for it,' Altman said. 'You are exactly right. This bullheaded going back and forth doesn't accomplish anything.'

The school board and the county commission don't have much time to waste. They are supposed to have their concurrency plan approved by the state Department of Community Affairs by Feb. 1.

Concurrency essentially says new development can't happen unless schools are in place or on the way to handle the anticipated growth.

At the same time concurrency is being hashed out, the school board is proposing an increase in the school impact fee, which the county commission must approve.

A consultant's study indicated the fee should be $10,477 for a single-family home. The current fee is $4,400.

Commissioner Ted Schrader said he was surprised roads proved to be the central sticking point between the county and the school district. He said he anticipated level of service would be the bigger roadblock.

Level of service is the maximum capacity that each type of school - elementary, middle and high - would operate at under concurrency.

The level of service is determined by the projected number of students, school capacity and the financial feasibility of construction projects in the five-year plan, said Chris Williams, the school district's planning director.

The school district recommended the level be 125 percent of capacity for elementary schools, 115 percent for middle schools and 105 percent for high schools.

Sumner said he was fine with the elementary and middle school capacities, but questioned whether 105 percent was too low for high schools, and suggested 110 percent might be a better.

Assistant Superintendent Ray Gadd said the district might consider 110 percent if the impact fee is increased.

The school district balked, though, at the county's suggestion that portable classrooms be counted as part of a school's capacity.

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218 or rblair@tampatrib.com.

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