| December 27, 2012 The High Point City Council in closed session on Thursday, Dec. 20 considered an offer by the Guilford County Board of Education to sell High Point 10 acres on Shadybrook Road – next to the High Point Athletic Complex and Miracle Field for children with disabilities – for $300,000.
The issue is expected to be reconsidered in closed session at the City Council's Jan. 7 meeting.
According to sources familiar with the deliberations, the City Council decided not to vote on the issue at last week's meeting, held at the High Point Chamber of Commerce, because some councilmembers were absent and High Point Mayor Bernita Sims wanted the full City Council to consider the school board's proposal.
The $300,000 price must have been approved by the school board in closed session at its Tuesday, Dec. 18 meeting, because as recently as Dec. 13, the school board wanted $335,000 for the land, according to High Point officials.
High Point wants to use the land for parking, a shelter for children with respiratory problems and a new soccer field for the Miracle Field complex.
The earlier $335,000 price was arrived at by the school board in a closed session at its Tuesday, Dec. 4 meeting. At the end of that meeting, the school board went into closed session to discuss and give its attorneys instructions for the sale of real property but did not vote in public session after the closed session.
The school board and the City of High Point have been dickering for months over the price of the 10 acres, which was once intended for a middle school Guilford County Schools now acknowledges will never be built. Both Guilford County Schools and High Point have paid for appraisals for the property.
The school board commissioned an appraisal in December 2011, which valued the property at $400,000, and which everyone involved on the High Point side of the squabble said was based on faulty information and on the faulty assumption that the High Point City Council would rezone the property for apartments.
High Point City Manager Strib Boynton on April 11, 2012, wrote Guilford County School Superintendent Mo Green offering to buy the 10 acres for the 2011 county assessed tax value of $294,300. On June 13, 2012, Green, acting for the school board, wrote Boynton asking that the City of High Point conduct a separate appraisal of the property.
The results of High Point's appraisal were submitted to the city on Oct. 27, by Michael S. Clapp & Associates. Clapp & Associates valued the property at $255,000. Clapp did write that the property's value would be increased if the High Point-Guilford County Schools shared-use agreement was terminated after its expiration date – from $255,000 to $335,000 – the last price the school board asked of High Point.
High Point and the school board have a shared-use agreement for the entire High Point Athletic Complex/Miracle Field/10-acre site that would have to expire for the land to be worth $335,000 under High Point's appraisal.
Despite the Clapp appraisal, it's still hard to see how the land's value would increase, even without the restrictions of the shared-use agreement, if that agreement expired. The High Point City Council is still unlikely to rezone the 10 acres, which in addition is subject to watershed restrictions. That makes the $255,000 figure seem more accurate.
The school board said it would accept $300,000. High Point originally offered $294,300 for the land, but dropped its offer to $255,000 after the Clapp appraisal. The difference between High Point's original offer and the school board's latest price is $5,700 – probably less than the two sides paid, combined, for the two appraisals.
Under the shared-use agreement, the school board gets free use of the High Point Athletic Complex for school games and regional, conference, state and national competitions – and gets to keep the gate receipts from such games.
According to High Point officials, before the approval of the shared-use agreement, the school board paid High Point $50,000 a year to use the High Point Athletic Complex, and High Point would probably start charging the school board that amount again if it cancels the shared-use agreement.
In other words, by demanding $80,000 more for the 10 acres, Guilford County Schools is risking having to pay $50,000 a year to use the Athletic Complex – $500,000 every 10 years, or $1 million every 20. And that's if High Point doesn't raise the price.
If the shared-use agreement is not terminated by either party after the expiration date, it will automatically renew for another 10 years. High Point has no incentive not to terminate the agreement if the school board won't sell the 10 acres and if High Point can get $50,000 a year from the school board. The agreement does not cover the adjacent Simeon Stadium, which the school board owns.
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