School capacity is a very sensitive topic in Montgomery County. People concerned that their schools are already overcrowded will want to watch upcoming County Council decisions on revisions to the County's growth policy carefully. Jim Humphrey sent me the following information which explains why fees for development may increase if their is crowding in schools but development may nonetheless continue:
If the final vote on the growth policy, now scheduled to take place on November 13, mirrors the straw vote of the majority of Councilmembers on Tuesday, October 30, then the Schools Test will change a bit from the Planning Board's recommendation. The vote supported setting 105% of MCPS program capacity as the point at which a Schools Facility Payment would be required of a developer--a fee for each student generated by a new residential project on the grade level (elementary, middle, high school) that was over the 105% level in that cluster. A majority voted to set 120% of program capacity as the cap above which development approval theoretically stops, however a developer could offer to build additional classroom capacity to accommodate students from their projects on the grade level over threshold OR PAY A FEE EQUAL TO THE COST.
Long story short, if a cluster is either over the 105% or 120% level a developer might still get approval of a new project if they agree to pay a sufficient amount. Of course, the additional classroom capacity might not be built for years, since MCPS rarely approves capacity increase projects of less than 4 classrooms at a time. So meanwhile our schools could become more and more overcrowded while project approvals generate revenue for MCPS that does not result in the timely provision of increased classroom capacity.
