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Council amends 'schools' portion of SMARTGrowth
By Chris Roark, croark@starlocalnews.com
The Flower Mound Town Council decided Monday that solidifying communication with local school districts about upcoming development projects is the best way to address future growth.
The council unanimously voted to amend the "public schools" portion of the SMARTGrowth program, which is a set of criteria developers must meet to ensure certain infrastructure is in place for future needs.
Last week, the planning and zoning commission had recommended removing the "public schools" component from SMARTGrowth all together. Commissioners said it was unfair to keep developers from bringing a project forward when the town can't control how school districts handle capacity issues.
Instead, the council opted to leave the component in but amend it.
Going forward, if a residential development is proposed in Flower Mound, the town will formally communicate that information to Lewisville ISD, as well as the other school districts where Flower Mound students attend -- Argyle ISD, Northwest ISD and Denton ISD.
"[Town] staff does follow up with school districts as development plans come through," said Councilman Steve Dixon. "But this just puts in place policies and procedures for them to follow. And I think that's very wise."
As part of the amendment, a residential development won't be denied if the number of students it is expected to generate surpasses the 110-percent threshold.
"If the school district says that they cannot give written certification, then they would be violating the state mandate of educating anyone that's in their district," said Mayor Tom Hayden. "In my opinion, that puts the town on very shaky, legal footing. If a development were to be proposed and then denied because they were told that LISD cannot educate children, I think that the town could be liable for such. So by changing this, we're giving LISD notification that there may be additional students coming so they can plan to educate them so they can fulfill their mission."
There have not been any residential developments denied because of the "public schools" component of SMARTGrowth.
However, developer Chas Fitzgerald of Wilbow Corporation in Dallas, told the commission last week that he had a project that was being held up by the requirement, even though his development was only expected to generate seven children.
Town attorney Terry Welch told the council that when the "public schools" component was put into SMARTGrowth years ago, there was an overcapacity issue with the school districts. But he said since then, the districts have been able to catch up with the growth through rezoning and the construction of facilities. He said minor changes to further address student growth would be handled by the school districts.
"If we don't handle this now, it could be an impediment to the town down the line and could have some perhaps negative legal implications for the town with the school districts saying they do, in fact, have the capacity," Welch said.
Welch said the Canyon Falls mixed-use development in west Flower Mound, Argyle and Northlake is an example of how the "public schools" component can be too strict. He said the development would have failed SMARTGrowth since there were no schools in that area to serve the students coming from that project. So a provision was put into the development agreement
to delay consideration of the "public schools" component.
As part of the project, there will be an Argyle ISD school constructed to serve the students.
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