BY KARISSA MILLER
The Iredell County Board of Commissioners has delayed taking action on a request from Iredell-Statesville Schools officials to drawn down $2 million in state lottery funds to pay for athletic stadium upgrades at North Iredell High School.
During the board’s pre-agenda meeting last week, I-SS Chief of Technology, Facilities and Maintenance Tim Ivey gave a presentation about the project, which includes replacing the old track with an eight-lane surface, adding synthetic turf on the football/soccer field and updating lighting poles.
The total cost of the project is $3.7 million. I-SS would use approximately $1.7 million from current capital funds to pay the portion not covered by N.C. Education Lottery funds.
The existing track cannot be repatched or resurfaced, Ivey said, and students cannot practice or compete on the surface because of safety concerns.
Commissioners acknowledged the need for the new track but prefer a lower-cost alternative.
The board expressed fiscal concerns about the cost of the new Weathers Creek High School.
The estimated cost of constructing the new school is $170 million. The school bond approved by voters included only $80 million for the new high school.
Commissioners are concerned that the longer the high school is delayed, the more the school will cost to build.
“We’re in a recession. If we’re not already, we’re stepping into a recession. We’re a growing county and have a lot of needs. Yes, this needs to be done (the new track), but we need to sit down and figure out how we’re going to pay for this high school,” Vice Chair Bert Connolly.
The board will discuss the stadium upgrade project at North Iredell High in greater detail and other capital need projects at a later meeting.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business:
♦ Commissioners unanimously approved a request to rezone approximately 11.97 wooded acres along McCrary Road from Residential Agricultural to General Business Conditional District to allow construction and operation of a mini warehouse and storage facility at the site.
The request was submitted by applicant Brian Lloyd, owner of Lloydco LLC, who said he plans to build an indoor storage facility for RVs, ATVs, cars or boats.
Planning Director Matthew Todd said the administrative staff supports this request because the property is surrounded by various commercial uses, and the conditions agreed to by the property owner will safeguard surrounding neighbors and have minimal traffic impact.
The board also approved a second request from Lloyd to utilize the High-Density Option to allow the development of garage units on property owned by Alice B. Stillwell and render a decision concerning the request for the utilization of the High-Density Option.
County Manager Beth Mull said that this item was contingent on the aforementioned rezoning request being approved.
♦ The board Approved a contract with F. L. Blum for the Government Center Exterior Renovation (GC4E) project for a total contract amount of $1,970,300 The total project budget is $2,088,520 which includes a 6-percent contingency.
♦ Commissioners approved a proposal from Fuller Architectural for ICATS Project NEPA/SD design for at the cost of $237,830
♦ The board approved a request for a two-year contract with County Attorney Lisa Valdez for a monthly retainer of $1,400.
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