Six pending Developer Rights and Responsibility Agreements (DRRAs) got the go ahead to advance to a public hearing, set for 6 p.m. on July 24, during Tuesday’s meeting of the Charles County Board of Commissioners. The main concern from Planning and Growth Management staff is the overcrowded schools.
 
Chief of Infrastructure and Resource Management Jason Groth told the commissioners that the schools that would be affected by the pending DRRAs are already overcrowded. He also emphasized that not everybody pays DRRAs, meaning that not every lot built pays in to the agreed DRRA. Former Commissioner President Murray Levy testified before the board in a public forum held later in the day saying, “I agree with everything your staff said about DRRA except that it won’t  cover school costs. They’re a gift that keeps on giving.”
 
Levy has previously referred to the DRRAs as a pot of money and that it is sufficient in funding schools.
 
The DRRAs which are pending are for Bryans Meadow, Highgrove Section 8, High Point, Cool Spring, Worthington and Fair Fountain Farm. 
 
Bryans Meadow has requested four school allocations, Highgrove has requested 15, High Point has requested 43, Cool Spring has requested 8 and Worthington has only requested one. Among the 43 allocations requested by High Point, 7.3 allocations were requested for La Plata High School and nine allocations were requested for Walter J. Mitchell Elementary School, which are both over capacity. High Point is the largest development awaiting a DRRA approval.
 
Dennis Vaira, representing one of the applicants of the pending DRRAs asked, “Why isn’t the board of education applying for state funding on a quicker basis? Could the school capacity be increased? Could we come up with prototypes for schools?”
 
Commissioner President Candice Quinn Kelly (D) said that, when it comes to state rated capacity, which is currently in use, the county has to meet state standards. She told Vaira he raised some valid points.
 
Murray Levy has asked similar questions in the past, even asking if mobile classrooms could be moved from schools that are at or under capacity to schools that are overcapacity.