Washington County delays decision on Elmwood Farms APFO mitigation after school-capacity concerns

Developers seeking to finish Elmwood Farms’ Section 5D asked the Washington County Board of County Commissioners for discretionary approval to use an alternate Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO) mitigation contribution to address school-capacity impacts, but commissioners did not approve the request and asked staff to return with mitigation options.

The developers’ representative, William C. Watts, who identified himself as representing the project owners, told the board that Section 5D contains 19 lots and that market changes since the subdivision’s original 2005 approvals make the smaller lots proposed now more saleable. “This is the same land area that was originally platted and approved in 02/2005,” Watts said. He said the parcels are essentially ready and that without APFO relief the lots cannot be sold or developed.

County planning staff, however, told commissioners that Fountain Rock Elementary School is already over 120% of its state-rated capacity and that adding students from Section 5D would push the school’s…