(1) It is the policy of this state to require the coordination of planning between boards and local governing bodies to ensure that plans for the construction and opening of public educational facilities are facilitated and coordinated in time and place with plans for residential development, concurrently with other necessary services. Such planning shall include the integration of the educational facilities plan and applicable policies and procedures of a board with the local comprehensive plan and land development regulations of local governments. The planning must include the consideration of allowing students to attend the school located nearest their homes when a new housing development is constructed near a county boundary and it is more feasible to transport the students a short distance to an existing facility in an adjacent county than to construct a new facility or transport students longer distances in their county of residence. The planning must also consider the effects of the location of public education facilities, including the feasibility of keeping central city facilities viable, in order to encourage central city redevelopment and the efficient use of infrastructure and to discourage uncontrolled urban sprawl. In addition, all parties to the planning process must consult with state and local road departments to assist in implementing the Safe Paths to Schools program administered by the Department of Transportation.

(2) The school board, county, and nonexempt municipalities located within the geographic area of a school district shall enter into an interlocal agreement according to s. 163.31777 that jointly establishes the specific ways in which the plans and processes of the district school board and the local governments are to be coordinated.

(3) A board and the local governing body must share and coordinate information related to existing and planned school facilities; proposals for development, redevelopment, or additional development; and infrastructure required to support the school facilities, concurrent with proposed development. A school board shall use information produced by the demographic, revenue, and education estimating conferences pursuant to s. 216.136 when preparing the district educational facilities plan pursuant to s. 1013.35, as modified and agreed to by the local governments, when provided by interlocal agreement, and the Office of Educational Facilities, in consideration of local governments’ population projections, to ensure that the district educational facilities plan not only reflects enrollment projections but also considers applicable municipal and county growth and development projections. The projections must be apportioned geographically with assistance from the local governments using local government trend data and the school district student enrollment data. A school board is precluded from siting a new school in a jurisdiction where the school board has failed to provide the annual educational facilities plan for the prior year required pursuant to s. 1013.35 unless the failure is corrected.

(4) The location of educational facilities shall be consistent with the comprehensive plan of the appropriate local governing body developed under part II of chapter 163 and consistent with the plan’s implementing land development regulations.

(5) To improve coordination relative to potential educational facility sites, a board shall provide written notice to the local government that has regulatory authority over the use of the land consistent with an interlocal agreement entered pursuant to s. 163.31777 at least 60 days prior to acquiring or leasing property that may be used for a new public educational facility. The local government, upon receipt of this notice, shall notify the board within 45 days if the site proposed for acquisition or lease is consistent with the land use categories and policies of the local government’s comprehensive plan. This preliminary notice does not constitute the local government’s determination of consistency pursuant to subsection (6).

(6) As early in the design phase as feasible and consistent with an interlocal agreement entered pursuant to s. 163.31777, but no later than 90 days before commencing construction, the district school board shall in writing request a determination of consistency with the local government’s comprehensive plan. The local governing body that regulates the use of land shall determine, in writing within 45 days after receiving the necessary information and a school board’s request for a determination, whether a proposed educational facility is consistent with the local comprehensive plan and consistent with local land development regulations. If the determination is affirmative, school construction may commence and further local government approvals are not required, except as provided in this section. Failure of the local governing body to make a determination in writing within 90 days after a district school board’s request for a determination of consistency shall be considered an approval of the district school board’s application. Campus master plans and development agreements must comply with the provisions of s. 1013.30.

(7) A local governing body may not deny the site applicant based on adequacy of the site plan as it relates solely to the needs of the school. If the site is consistent with the comprehensive plan’s land use policies and categories in which public schools are identified as allowable uses, the local government may not deny the application but it may impose reasonable development standards and conditions in accordance with s. 1013.51(1) and consider the site plan and its adequacy as it relates to environmental concerns, health, safety and welfare, and effects on adjacent property. Standards and conditions may not be imposed which conflict with those established in this chapter or the Florida Building Code, unless mutually agreed and consistent with the interlocal agreement required by s. 163.31777.

(8) This section does not prohibit a local governing body and district school board from agreeing and establishing an alternative process for reviewing a proposed educational facility and site plan, and offsite impacts, pursuant to an interlocal agreement adopted in accordance with s. 163.31777.

(9) Existing schools shall be considered consistent with the applicable local government comprehensive plan adopted under part II of chapter 163. If a board submits an application to expand an existing school site, the local governing body may impose reasonable development standards and conditions on the expansion only, and in a manner consistent with s. 1013.51(1). Standards and conditions may not be imposed which conflict with those established in this chapter or the Florida Building Code, unless mutually agreed. Local government review or approval is not required for:

(a) The placement of temporary or portable classroom facilities; or

(b) Proposed renovation or construction on existing school sites, with the exception of construction that changes the primary use of a facility, includes stadiums, or results in a greater than 5 percent increase in student capacity, or as mutually agreed upon, pursuant to an interlocal agreement adopted in accordance with s. 163.31777.

History.—s. 23, ch. 2002-296; s. 828, ch. 2002-387; s. 129, ch. 2003-1; s. 18, ch. 2005-290; s. 15, ch. 2010-70; s. 43, ch. 2011-63; s. 70, ch. 2011-139; s. 24, ch. 2011-177; s. 100, ch. 2012-5; s. 19, ch. 2012-99.