City commissioners express frustration at school overcrowding in Apopka

By Mickenzie Hannon, Interning Correspondent for The Apopka Voice

Tension brewed at the July 7th Apopka City Council meeting when commissioners discussed overcapacity in Orange County Public Schools—an issue currently impacting all schools in Apopka—and appropriately developing relief schools.

Project Manager Jean Sanchez from the Community Development Department presented Agenda Item 2838, a request to amend the future land use designation from county rural to mixed-use. The approximate 1.79-acre lot located at the southwest corner of Sadler Road and Golden Gem Road is a proposed future Apopka relief school location.

Community Development Director James Hitt explained the process that localities must follow when developing land to alleviate the overcapacity in schools. The current system, as he described, does not allow development until the required minimum number of residential homes in an area has been met. Until those seats are taken into account, developers are not permitted to build.

“As we approve the developments, the developers also know that they will not be able to get building permits or development permits for the lots until the concurrency is paid for,” Hitt said. In other words, “you can't get the new schools until you pay into the system for those new students.”

Commissioner Doug Bankson expressed concerns about the current system.

“It's a challenge because we've got a state limitation that says you have to have more students than you have buildings before you can start,” he said. “Again, we are the ones who have to answer to our constituents, and it would just be nice if we could say these numbers, and this mitigation will go back into what we need, then we are building on something solid that we can bank on.”

Commissioner Diane Velazquez reflected her frustration at what she feels is a lack of progress.

“We are almost kind of like approving these new developments, and then, at the same time, we are stagnating them… It seems like we are going around in circles, and we are not getting anything accomplished.”

Velazquez also shared an instance of overcapacity she witnessed 16 years ago with the opening of Wolf Lake Elementary and Middle School.

“I guarantee that with this K-8 school, the same thing is going to happen.”

The Apopka City Council received a detailed spreadsheet of current enrollment data and information within Apopka schools from Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) representatives. According to data that commissioners shared, all Apopka schools are currently over or nearing capacity.

Since OCPS tracks enrollment data and is responsible for developing schools, the commissioners became frustrated due to the absence of OCPS participation in the discussion.

“We have all sat up here and said we would love to have OCPS or Orange County come and talk with us,” said Commissioner Kyle Becker. “We have to come up with a strategy to say what does ‘good’ look like or where should we honestly feel uncomfortable approving land-use changes or zoning changes if it's going to materially increase our overcapacity situation.”

Commissioner Alexander Smith suggested the addition of an “in-house” representative to track the City of Apopka’s impact in reference to the number of housing improvements.

“I know that the County plays a part, but at least if we had an idea as to what we're doing on a day-to-day basis.”

“We, as a City of Apopka, should have some directional point of view around where we're sitting and what we're contributing to the overcapacity on an aggregate scale, and we don't have that.," said Becker.

“That’s where OCPS is the expert in regard to what actions are occurring," said Hitt in response.

With limited OCPS participation, Becker stressed the importance of making informed decisions not just for Apopka students and their families but also for developers.

“There's a lot of people in this room…a lot of developers that are sitting in this room that would like for staff to equip the Council to make a more efficient decision on their behalf too,” he said.

Hitt mentioned potential locations to construct a new relief school, one being at Avion Park Boulevard. However, according to Hitt, there's a charter school also looking for property to build in that same area.

Mayor Bryan Nelson referenced the recent OCPS relief school construction in Horizons West, suggesting it as a model for relief school construction in Apopka.

“The last three or four schools they have built have all been in Horizons West because the growth there has just been exponential… that would be the model for what Apopka is facing with the next wave of homebuilding.," Nelson said. "Their example would be one that we would want to kind of look at and see how we would measure up against that."

The Apopka City Council voted to move Agenda Item 2838 to the second reading for the July 21st City Council meeting. There, Apopka Commissioners hope to receive more information before approving to adopt and implement the ordinance.