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Officials agree on Smoky Mountain construction plans
By Derek Hodges
After several months of debate, county and school officials agreed Monday (July 25) on plans for construction at Smoky Mountain High School.
Those plans will bring new parking areas, a perimeter road and new athletic fields to the campus, along with other improvements.
Officials had been facing several road blocks to construction that have now been worked out, county Manager Ken Westmoreland said.
“The last time we met, we had at least three unresolved issues,” Westmoreland said. “Those questions have been answered.”
The first problem was a small stream on recently-acquired property first slated to be used for temporary parking, then as athletic fields, Westmoreland said.
Any construction that disturbs 300 or more feet of streambank requires permits from the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural resources and Army Corps of Engineer, which have not been obtained.
However, project engineer Victor Lofquist said he had found a solution that satisfies both NCDENR and the Corps.
Lofquist’s suggestion involves placing a 20-foot wide half-culvert over the stream. This method would leave the stream undisturbed while allowing for safe construction above it, he said. Using pipe that wide would also allow for needed maintenance inside the culvert, he said.
While the culvert method might cost slightly more than securing permits, covering the stream will take less time than waiting for the agencies to OK the project, Lofquist said.
“The greatest benefit is we can actually start the work now,” Westmoreland said.
The savings in time might outweigh other savings, school board member Ali Laird-Large said.
“We’re losing money every day,” Laird-Large said.
The next problem Westmoreland addressed was the relocation of utilities that would need to be moved before the project could proceed. Project planners had run into difficulty getting the power and telephone companies to agree to a schedule and price for the move.
An agreement has been formed between project planners and utilities that should allow work to begin on moving the lines by the end of August, architect John Cort said.
According to an engineer contacted by Cort, the utilities relocation will cost between $450,000 and $475,000.
The third situation that has been resolved was a lack of funding, Westmoreland said.
During a previous meeting, Westmoreland had told the group that legislators representing Jackson County had promised some discretionary funding for the project from contingency funds they control as members of the General Assembly. That money had been in question after John Snow defeated Bob Carpenter for this district’s State Senate seat, Westmoreland had said.
At Monday’s meeting, though, Westmoreland said the money has been reallocated in the form of $100,000 each from John Snow (D-Murphy) and Rep. Phil Haire (D-Sylva).
Westmoreland also said $100,000 had been allocated from a contingency fund controlled by Commissioner Conrad Burrell, who is a member of the state Transportation Board. Burrell previously told The Herald he did not have any discretionary funds to give the project. During Monday’s meeting, Burrell said the Department of Transportation would assist with work on the Jones Street access road. Burrell could not be reached Wednesday morning to confirm how much assistance DOT might provide for the project.
Cort showed officials the project’s three proposed phases.
The first begins with the utilities work, which should begin in August and be completed by mid-February, Cort said. Work will then begin on clearing and leveling the Jones property, located to the north of the campus, as well as covering the stream. A perimeter access road and a temporary student parking area will be constructed.
The next phase connects the perimeter road on the Jones property to the main road in front of the school. That connector includes a traffic circle where the two roads meet, Cort said.
In the final phase, the student parking area in front of the school will be elevated to approximately the same level as the main entrance. This will be accomplished using fill dirt from the Jones property.
Also, a bus parking lot with space for 24 buses will be constructed and new softball and baseball fields will be created on the Jones property. Finally, two spaces will be laid out that, in the future, will be the site of a new gymnasium and auditorium at the school, Cort said.
Planners hope to have all phases completed by November 2006, Cort said.
Some school officials, including SMHS Principal Alex Bell, are concerned about traffic problems that could be created by the construction. They were particularly concerned about how buses from Fairview would get to the high school.
“The road to Fairview School would be interrupted for a time,” Cort said. “Suffice it to say busing is not a clear situation.”
While bringing more buses over from the county lot and running more loads of children through different entrances to the school could be a solution, Bell and Superintendent Sue Nations both were concerned with that option.
Adding more buses requires more drivers, something that the high school is already short of, Bell said.
Also, according to local policy, students are not allowed to be on buses earlier than 6 a.m. Bringing in more loads of children would put them on the road earlier than that, Nations said.
To correct that problem, Nations suggested altering the time students are in school slightly during construction.
“You may have to look at changing your school day,” Nations said.
“There is no good solution, but it’s only for one year,” Cort said.
“I feel sorry for Mr. Bell, but as long as we are working together and communicating with the parents, it will work out fine,” school board Chairman Ken Henke said.
“There’s going to be a lot of complications, but I think in the end it’s going to be a really nice high school campus,” Commissioners’ Chairman Brian McMahan said.
Though they have not yet identified a solution to the busing problem, members of both boards verbally agreed to proceed with the construction.
“If everything meets with everyone’s satisfaction then we would be in a position to let the contracts and move forward,” Westmoreland said.
School officials voted during their regular session July 25 to move forward with the plans that Lofquist and Cort presented.
Commissioners are expected to take similar action at their meeting Monday, Aug. 1, McMahan said.
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