Data enables officials to forecast growth needs

By Annie McCallum

Published: November 12, 2008

Officials talked about the future of Amherst County during a recent joint meeting of the county’s school board and the board of supervisors.

‘It gives us the ability to not be reacting ... ’
— Rodney Taylor

Officials received an in-depth facilities planning study from Eperitus, an educational consulting firm, that analyzed population growth and made recommendations for future capital improvements.

The study showed a steady population growth and school enrollment holding at about 4,600 students over the next 10 years.

While the study’s findings on growth were not surprising, officials said, what was possibly most important was the sheer amount of information compiled.

“You’ve got a set of data to work with now,” said Carl Chafin, an Eperitus partner and senior planner.

Chafin said the information provided by the study gives a baseline. Officials can compare actual growth each year against what was forecast to anticipate and keep tabs on a changing community.

Rodney Taylor, Amherst County administrator, said the data provided is sound and, along with the county’s GIS (geographic information systems) database now being compiled, it has the potential to be extremely valuable.

“It gives us the ability not to be reacting to data,” Taylor said, adding that the data will mean more planning by officials. “That’s the value of this whole process.”

Also during the Nov. 6 meeting, Chafin briefed officials on his recommendations following the study. Recommendations included:

- Revising elementary school attendance boundaries to alleviate crowding at the southern end of the county. The study proposes changing the attendance zones for the 2008-2010 school year. This suggestion was not discussed by either board at the meeting.

- Creating a new combined fire and rescue facility somewhere in Madison Heights. According to the facilities study, the new facility would have to be within a minute or two of the current facility in order to maintain low response times.

- Creating a new Madison Heights library in a different location. Eperitus officials said the problem with the current facility is the location and the fact that it needs to be expanded to serve that growing area of the community.

- Creating a 250-student building at Amherst High School. If added, the building would accommodate current and future growth at the school, which currently has about 1,400 students.

- Continue with the planned addition to Amherst Middle School, which was delayed last month because of economic concerns.