County debates buying Black Hill parcels to expand proposed middle school; motion to deny fails

Swain County commissioners on July 15 debated whether to buy additional parcels on Black Hill so the school system can expand the site for a proposed new middle school, but did not complete a final purchase decision.

The board considered an offer to buy roughly 2.7 acres and adjacent parcels from landowner Mike Drinkwater; Drinkwater told the board he had negotiated previously and that he and associated LLCs have invested in the property and development work. "Swain County has never purchased any land from Mike Drinkwater, any LLC that I manage or affiliated with," Drinkwater said during public comment.

School system representatives told the county that moving earth on the site could be expensive if the additional property is not acquired. "The estimation is that there's gonna be 20,027 cubic yards of soil moved," a school official said, adding the construction manager estimated earth-moving at $33.35 per cubic yard, or more than $660,000 just to move the dirt. The official also said the option of adding underground stormwater storage without the extra land would cost about $230,000. The school system said redesigning the site to contain runoff on the additional acreage could avoid those costs.

School officials and at least one school board member told commissioners the school district expects to keep enrollment at about 400 students and cited guidance used for campus sizing. A school board member said the board was unanimous in supporting purchase negotiations. The board also said the funding source for a potential purchase would be state lottery proceeds earmarked for Swain County schools; the school official said the district must obligate the funds by October 2026.

Drinkwater said he had countered an offer at $525,000 for the parcels. Commissioners questioned the price relative to tax value and to earlier land swaps: one commissioner said the original land trade had been for roughly $3.0 million for 18 acres but that the county later learned it had received fewer acres than expected. Commissioners asked staff to research the earlier land transfer and mapping.

On the purchase item the board heard a motion to deny the property purchase and a second. The clerk called for a vote and announced, "Motion does not pass." Because the motion to deny failed, no final approval or contract for purchase was recorded in the meeting minutes; the county and school system continued to discuss options.

Discussion and clarifications recorded in the meeting included: - Cost estimates and design assumptions came from the school system's architect and construction manager and were presented to commissioners as estimates not executed contracts. The school official said the design assumed a permeable athletic field but that runoff containment, not absorption, drives some stormwater costs. - The school official said some earlier GIS maps had shown larger acreage than later surveys confirmed; the staff said surveys and title work changed the assumed acreage during project planning. - School representatives said purchasing the property would allow traffic flow designs that separate buses and cars, a change that North Carolina Department of Transportation staff had raised concerns about when the site was designed without the extra acreage.

No purchase contract was executed at the meeting. Commissioners discussed possibly revisiting the original land swap and reviewing minutes and documents related to the earlier transaction to determine whether the county can recover or clarify missing acreage. The school system said it had a pending offer and that if the county declines to pursue acquisition the district could lose the property opportunity and may have to change design or site location decisions.

The item concluded with no county vote to purchase recorded; the motion to deny failed and commissioners left the matter open for further action and review.