Past Events  Fall 2006
 Planning and Prediction in the School System – Methods and Data

Last Fall, thanks to the cooperation of Superintendent Joe Hairston, the North County Institute explored the relationship between the plans and actions of the Baltimore County Public Schools and development in The North County.  This is a critical dialogue: school quality and boundaries have direct impact on house values and demand for development in the North County; the County Schools are one of the largest landowners in the County; and the schools are centers of North County community activity.

On Wednesday, September 27,  the Fall 2006 North County Institute began with the Strategic Planning staff for the Baltimore County Public Schools outlining their process for projecting enrollment and population estimates for the schools and reporting historical data for the County. Don Dent, Executive Director for Planning and Support Operations; Ghassan Shah, Strategic Planning Administrator, Chris Brocato, the planner with responsibility for data, and Pam Carter, the attendance boundary staff person provided a detailed presentation about the operations of the planners and historical data.

The overall prediction model developed by the school system planners assumes relatively stable population in Baltimore County through 2015 with only a modest impact of BRAC, the reallocation of military and security operations to the Eastern part of the County.  Throughout the County there has been great stability of school attendance boundaries as a matter of school system policy.  The strategic plan assumes the continuation of that policy with rare changes only when the enrollment in a school exceeds 120% of capacity and the surplus cannot be accommodated with temporary classrooms.  No new school construction is put into the ten year capital budget unless it is impossible to send students to adjacent schools.  There is little land available anywhere in Baltimore County to build new schools.  The major current capital project is the rehabilitation of existing middle schools.

For further information about this meeting, click here for the Report.

Thursday, October 26 – 7:30 PM
Understanding the Future of Population, Enrollment, and Property Trends in the North County – the 2006 Prism on the Future

Thursday, November 30 – 7:30 PM
Schools and Land Use: Policies for Preservation and Quality Education

For current seminar information, please click here

For North County Institute 2006 spring report, please click here

Spring 2006

North County Preservation, Inc. initiated the North County Institute to illuminate the planning issues that will affect the future of the North County. Our purpose is to explore the larger planning horizon beyond current crises and controversies in order to think critically about future land use challenges. We invite you to join us.

Our new initiative for 2006 is the North County Institute. Meeting on the last Sunday of each month, NCP has been exploring long range perspectives on land use planning in Baltimore County. Each meeting begins with a presenter and then the seminar participants engage with the presenter about the issues.

Pat Keller, Director of Planning for Baltimore County, initiated the series. Chris
McCollum from the Office of Economic Development led a discussion of economic development programs for agriculture. And Bill Hughey, the planner for Council District 3, presented detailed information about zoning in the North County.

On April 23 Judy Waldman, Paul Hupfer and Lynne Jones, conservation activists with a long history in the North County, lead a discussion of long range strategies for open space protection. Then on May 21, Councilman Bryan McIntire and all of the earlier presenters engaged in a mini summit about the most important priorities for action in the North County for the next year.