Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country | Founded 05-05-05

February 15, 2007 issue

Boards Approve High School Site Plan, Construction Manager

Story by Kathleen McFadden

At a joint meeting on Monday night, the Watauga County Board of Commissioners and the Board of Education took two significant steps forward toward a new Watauga High School by approving a preliminary site plan for the high school property and naming the construction manager at risk that will oversee the project from the design stages to construction completion.

At the meeting, project architect Jennifer Sisak presented three potential site plans the architectural firm had developed for the project. Members of the planning committee and the project subcommittee had considered all three plans and overwhelmingly recommended the third design to the commissioners and school board members.

Advantages of the third plan include parking that is more centrally located to the athletic fields, the school building and other site features than in the other two plans.

In addition, the third plan made the best use, in the committees’ opinions, of the natural lay of the land that slopes 180 feet from the top of the property to the bottom. In the third plan, the school building is oriented to take advantage of the natural grade, with the career-technical education spaces at the bottom of the slope, allowing for large instructional spaces and rollup access doors that will not be on the same level as academic classrooms.

The school shape—a modified W—will allow for plenty of daylighting in the building.

In her presentation, Sisak also addressed the studies that have been conducted and will be conducted at the site. Geotechnical borings have been completed, along with the wetlands delineation. Wetlands areas are staked along Rocky Knob Creek (also known as Harding Creek), and Sisak said the design team will make every effort to stay clear of the wetlands.

The site, she said, has habitat potential for the endangered bog turtle, but no turtles or evidence of them has been found. The site has no habitat features for other protected species.

A firm has been contracted to investigate and delineate the cemetery identified on the plat maps. If graves are discovered, they will be disinterred and reinterred at another site.

Another firm has been contracted to conduct an archeological study of the site to determine if it has any historical or cultural significance.

Fieldwork for both the cemetery and the archeological study will commence when weather permits. The currently frozen ground does not permit testing or digging.

The county has received a proposal for the traffic study at the site, and discussions with DOT are continuing regarding a new road to the high school, a signalized intersection on Highway 421 and the closing of neighborhood streets to prevent drive-through traffic.

Sisak explained that the current working number for the project budget is $65 million, with $50 million of that total allocated to construction.

The current schedule calls for a 35-month process: for the schematic design to be completed at the end of March, for construction to take 24 months and for the students and faculty to move in for the fall 2010 school year.

On the recommendation of the committees after their members interviewed representatives from four firms, the two boards approved Barnhill/Vannoy as the construction manager at risk. Under the construction manager at risk arrangement, the contractor is involved in the process from the design stage forward and is therefore in the position to point out cost-saving methods, to identify materials costs and to suggest design alternatives.

“I don’t ever want to use the word cheaper,” said Board of Commissioners Chair Jim Deal, but he explained that the construction manager at risk involvement will reduce the number of change orders in the project. “Change orders always slow down a project and always cost more,” Deal said. “The focus will never be on a cheap building for cutting costs.”

Following the design phase, the construction manager at risk provides a guaranteed maximum price and schedule for the project. At that point, the county can accept the guaranteed maximum, or if the commissioners feel the price is too high, they can change course and proceed with a traditional bid process for the project.

The committees recommended Barnhill/Vannoy because of the combined firms’ experience with building schools and building in the mountains, as well as the proximity of Vannoy for troubleshooting and problem solving and the fact that the firm employs a number of local people.

Board of Education member Deborah Miller emphasized that the boards “will not settle for substandard,” adding that committee members had reiterated that point multiple times to the representatives of Barnhill/Vannoy.

“Our hope and goal is to begin moving dirt late this summer, in August or September,” Deal said. He added that he was a bit disappointed that the school wouldn’t open until fall 2010 because he had hoped for a 2009 opening.

However, he added, “Making sure we design the right building and building it the right way are more important than opening in 2009.”

According to Board of Education Chair Lowell Younce, students who are currently in the eighth grade will be in the first graduating class at the new high school.