(1) As used in this section, the term:

(a) “Board of Trustees” means the Board of Trustees of the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind.

(b) “Local government” means the municipality or county in which the school is located.

(c) “School” means the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind.

(2) It is the policy of this state to require the board of trustees to coordinate planning for new facilities with local governments to ensure that plans for site acquisition, construction, and opening of new facilities of the school are facilitated, concurrent with other necessary services. The planning shall include the integration of the educational plant survey for the school and applicable policies and procedures of the board of trustees with the local comprehensive plan and land development regulations of the local governments. The planning must consider the effect of the location of new facilities to be located on property acquired on or after January 1, 1998, including the efficient use of local infrastructure, the proximity of the proposed new facilities to the school’s existing campus, and the effect and impact of any property proposed to be acquired by the school after the effective date of this act. 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.

(3) The board of trustees and the municipality in which the school is located may enter into an interlocal agreement to establish the specific ways in which the plans and processes of the board of trustees and the local government are to be coordinated.

(4) At a minimum, an interlocal agreement must address the following issues:

(a) The process by which each local government and the board of trustees will agree and base their plans on consistent projections of the growth and needs of the school’s student enrollment.

(b) A process to coordinate and share information relating to planned expansions of the school’s facilities.

(c) Participation by affected local governments when the board of trustees is evaluating potential land acquisitions before the land acquisition occurs and when the board of trustees proposes uses for property acquired by the board of trustees on or after January 1, 1998. The local governments shall advise the board of trustees as to the consistency of any future land acquisitions and the uses proposed by the school for lands acquired on or after January 1, 1998, including appropriate circumstances and criteria under which the board of trustees may request an amendment to the comprehensive plan for the expansion of the school’s campus or for school facilities to be located on property acquired by the board of trustees on or after January 1, 1998.

(d) A process for determining the need for and timing of onsite and offsite improvements to support new facilities that are to be located on property acquired by the board of trustees on or after January 1, 1998, except new facilities for which a construction contract was entered on or before the effective date of this act. The process shall address identification of the party or parties responsible for the improvements.

(e) A process for the board of trustees to inform local governments of the school’s enrollment demographics and its capacity to meet it. The capacity reporting must identify how the board of trustees will meet the demands for enrollment at the school, based on the educational plant survey required by s. 1013.31.

(f) A process for determining where and how joint use of the school or local government facilities can be shared for mutual benefit and efficiency.

(g) A procedure for resolving disputes between the board of trustees and local governments, which may include the dispute resolution processes contained in chapters 164 and 186.

The board of trustees and the local governments may choose not to include a provision meeting the requirements of paragraph (e). However, this decision may be made only after a public hearing on the proposed decision, which may include the public hearing at which the board of trustees or the local governments adopt the interlocal agreements. An interlocal agreement entered into under this section must be consistent with the adopted comprehensive plan and land development regulations of the local governments.

(5) An interlocal agreement may be amended under subsections (2)-(4):

(a) In conjunction with updates to the school’s educational plant survey prepared under s. 1013.31; or

(b) If either party delays by more than 12 months the construction of a capital improvement identified in the agreement.

(6) This section does not prohibit a local governing body and the board of trustees from agreeing and establishing an alternative process for reviewing proposed expansions to the school’s campus and offsite impacts, under the interlocal agreement adopted in accordance with subsections (2)-(5).

(7) School facilities within the geographic area or the campus of the school as it existed on or before January 1, 1998, are consistent with the local government’s comprehensive plan developed under part II of chapter 163 and consistent with the plan’s implementing land development regulations.

(8) To improve coordination relative to potential educational facility sites, the board of trustees shall provide written notice to the local governments consistent with the interlocal agreements entered under subsections (2)-(5) at least 60 days before the board of trustees acquires any additional property. The local government shall notify the board of trustees no later than 45 days after receipt of this notice if the site proposed for acquisition 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 under subsection (9).

(9) As early in the design phase as feasible, but no later than 90 days before commencing construction, the board of trustees shall request in writing a determination of consistency with the local government’s comprehensive plan and local development regulations for the proposed use of any property acquired by the board of trustees on or after January 1, 1998. The local governing body that regulates the use of land shall determine, in writing, no later than 45 days after receiving the necessary information and a school board’s request for a determination, whether a proposed use of the property is consistent with the local comprehensive plan and consistent with local land development regulations. If the local governing body determines the proposed use is consistent, construction may commence and additional 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 receiving the board of trustees’ request for a determination of consistency shall be considered an approval of the board of trustees’ application. This subsection does not apply to facilities to be located on the property if a contract for construction of the facilities was entered on or before the effective date of this act.

(10) Disputes that arise in the implementation of an executed interlocal agreement or in the determinations required pursuant to subsection (8) or subsection (9) must be resolved in accordance with chapter 164.

History.—s. 5, ch. 2004-331; s. 21, ch. 2012-99.