OFFICE OF
THE CITY COUNCIL
117 WEST DUVAL STREET, SUITE 425
4TH FLOOR, CITY HALL
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA 32202
904-630-1377
LUZ Special Committee Meeting Minutes
October 18, 2016
4:45 p.m.
Topic: Charter Schools Design Criteria
Location: City Council Chamber, 1st floor, City Hall – St.
James Building, 117 West Duval Street
In
attendance: Council Members Danny Becton
(Chair), Doyle Carter, Al Ferraro, Reggie Gaffney, Joyce Morgan
Also: Folks Huxford, Kristen Reed and Laurie Santana – Planning
& Development Department; Susan Grandin and Sondra Fetner – Office of General Counsel; Jessica Matthews
– Legislative Services Division; Dan MacDonald – ECA Dist. 11; Yvonne P.
Mitchell – Research Division
Meeting
Convened: 4:52 p.m.
Chairman Becton called the meeting
to order.
Ms. Laurie Santana briefed the
committee on the impetus of the school site design study, which was based on
the numerous traffic complaints received. The issue is that fewer students are
walking to school because more parents are dropping youth off and picking them
up. Unfortunately, the older schools in the study do not have traffic
circulation elements within their site designs. Therefore, when parents arrive
early to pick up students, they are causing traffic congestion from utilizing
the right-of-way.
In looking at best practices to
address school site design, Ms. Santana commented that it was necessary to have
legislation along with design standards from an engineering perspective. She
suggested that the Development Services Division could make recommendations
during the 10-set review process to ensure that school site designs were
incorporated in new development projects. Ms. Sondra Fetner explained that most
of the new developments are charter schools instead of traditional public
schools. Charter schools are exempted
from having to comply with State Requirements for Facilities (SREF), per Florida Statute 1002.33(18). Ms. Fetner
shared three concerns regarding proposed legislation for safety standards and
traffic as it relates to school site designs: 1) charter schools are exempted
from SREF; 2) charter schools must be treated equitably as traditional schools;
and 3) charter schools may apply for immediate injunctive relief from
requirements. In the event, a charter school is granted relief, they can receive
reimbursement of lawyer fees.
Ms. Fetner stated that moving
forward the School Board needs to be involved in determining the standards to
ensure equitability for traditional and charter schools. In response to
Chairman Becton request, Ms. Fetner agreed to forward a copy of the SREF to the
committee.
The topic for November 1, 2016 is
school capacity as it relates to land use and rezoning issues. The speakers
will be Don Nelson and Randy Gallop from the Duval County Public Schools.
There being no further business, the
meeting was adjourned.
Meeting
Adjourned:
5:13 p.m.
Minutes: Yvonne P. Mitchell, Council
Research
10.20.16
Posted 5:00 p.m.
Tapes: LUZ special meeting– LSD
10.18.16
*
The
written minutes for this meeting are an overview of what was discussed. Please
review the audio to hear the actual dialogue from this meeting.