Broward School Board weighs revising tri‑party mitigation agreements after cities urge release

Broward County School Board staff told the board on Tuesday that they recommend reopening and revising tri‑party educational mitigation agreements so certified affordable units inside designated activity centers could pay standard school impact fees instead of the larger pre‑concurrency "cost per student station" charges.

The recommendation grew from a half‑day staff presentation and nearly two hours of public comment in which officials from Fort Lauderdale, Oakland Park, Miramar, Lauderhill and other municipalities urged the board to release the nine cities affected by the agreements or, at minimum, direct a joint working group to identify revenue‑neutral alternatives. City speakers said the mitigation charges are discouraging redevelopment, including projects intended to increase affordable and workforce housing.

Why it matters: the tri‑party agreements—signed by Broward County Public Schools, Broward County and multiple municipalities beginning in 2003—require developers in certain local and regional activity centers to pay a proportionate share mitigation that historically has been calculated using the state’s monthly cost‑per‑student‑station schedule. That per‑station cost is typically higher than the county’s adopted school impact fee; according to staff, the higher charge has become a disincentive to redevelopment in the very areas cities are trying to densify.

Staff overview and recommendation

Wanda Paul, chief operations and facilities officer, and Chris Acabuso, director of facility planning and real estate, walked the board through the history and mechanics of the interlocal agreements. The presenters said the state’s 2008 move to mandated…