NEW HANOVER COUNTY — The New Hanover County Commissioners approved an additional $ 6.4 million for New Hanover High School repairs on Monday, though not without some hand-wringing.
READ MORE: NHC commissioners toy with idea of tearing down NHHS, approve funding for facility study
New Hanover County Schools has spent the last several months completing the first phase of foundational repairs to the south and west walls of the century-old building, and now it’s time to move on to phase two. The next, and purportedly final, projects include replacing the east and west walls; this will cost nearly $7.7 million in total, more than double the cost of the first phase.
“I’d love to see it maintained, but I want to make sure that we’re not wasting resources,” Commissioner Jonathan Barfield Jr. said. “Historic buildings, when you tamper with one piece, you have consequences in another area, especially looking at stabilization of foundations and what not.”
For example, replacement of the gym floor in the school’s Brogden Hall in the 2020-2021 school year revealed $2.7 million in foundational repair needs.
Eddie Anderson, NHCS assistant superintendent of operations, reiterated Monday that inspections of other areas of the foundation would not yield severe damage.
He also said the current repairs were found through exterior inspection, suggesting the repair team has a good idea of the entire foundation’s deficiencies without internal examination. Commissioner Rob Zapple called that view “optimistic” and agreed with Barfield’s caution.
New Hanover High School has been a sore spot for commissioners, who were asked to fund a $300,000 master plan study for the school in August. The study will map out all needed improvements to the school and their associated costs, which Zapple expected to be in the tens of millions. On Monday, he pointed out the county has spent $25 million on fixing up NHHS since 2006.
Though the study received unanimous approval, Barfield warned against “throwing good money after bad,” a phrase he reissued on Monday.
However, when the master plan is finished next spring, Barfield will have been replaced with newly elected commissioner Stephanie Walker — barring recount results the county board of elections is currently working through, after Barfield filed for one Monday. He lags behind Walker by 290 votes.
Walker is currently on the school board and, if she moves into the commissioner seat, is more sympathetic to restoring NHHS to its former glory. She has been supportive of a school bond to address large repairs and projects.
According to the county’s chief financial officer, Eric Credle, who presented the funding request to commissioners, the repairs are needed regardless of the study’s outcome.
Several NHCS staff members were present at Monday’s meeting alongside Anderson, including Interim Superintendent Christopher Barnes, who pressed on the board not to get ahead of itself.
“While financially I know that this is a large ask, I think the question is: What if we don’t do it?” Barnes asked. “We have hundreds and hundreds of kids who belong in that school right now and we’re not able to put them where they belong.”
He pointed out a new facility would take at least five years to construct, estimated at $150 million, not including land costs.
Commissioner Dane Scalise agreed with the urgency of the requested repairs, along with Chair Bill Rivenbark, who said NHHS’s current predicament was due to lack of action from past commissioners.
“At some point in the near future, we’ll have some sense of whether or not the cost of renovating this building, in the way I think many of us would like it to be renovated, is feasible, relative to the cost as compared to new construction,” Scalise said. “We don’t have that information yet, but we’re going to get that information, and as I understand you, Dr. Barnes, in the meantime, we really don’t have a choice.”
The $6.4-million request, to be deduced from $10.6 million in the county’s available capital fund balance, received unanimous approval from commissioners, along with two other related requests that will shore up more money for the school.
One was transferring unused funds from some of the district’s capital projects to three urgent projects — $69,500 to direct digital control front end system at the Carolina Beach Road complex, $69,663 to roof repairs at various schools, and $129,768 to NHHS phase two.
The second request was application of unallocated North Carolina lottery funds, totalling $1.33 million — $100,000 will go to NHHS intercom replacements, $50,000 to direct the digital control front end system at Gregory, Noble and NHHS. New Hanover High School’s phase two improvements will get $800,000 from this fund.
Reach journalist Brenna Flanagan at brenna@localdailymedia.com.
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