Last Updated on March 10, 2026 8:22 am
Watauga County is taking the first concrete steps toward replacing Hardin Park Elementary School, with the Board of Commissioners approving a pair of site survey contracts totaling $79,500 over back-to-back meetings in February and March.
The school has been identified for years as needing replacement. A facility study conducted by the Watauga County School System inventoried all district properties and confirmed what many in the community already knew — Hardin Park has reached the end of its useful life. After evaluating options, county officials determined that building a new school on the existing 26-acre site would be the most cost-effective path forward.
Before committing to that plan, however, the county needs to verify the site can support new construction. That process began at the February 17 meeting, when commissioners approved a $47,150 contract with Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson (JMT), an engineering firm based in Candler, for a boundary and topographic survey.
The scope of that work is extensive. JMT will conduct LiDAR drone flights over the property to generate detailed elevation data with one-foot contour intervals, then follow up with a conventional ground survey to capture all physical features — pavement, drainage structures, utilities, buildings, fences, and property lines. The deliverable will be a comprehensive AutoCAD file combining all survey data.
Two weeks later, at the March 3 meeting, the board approved a second JMT contract for $32,350 to perform a Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE) Level B survey. This phase uses ground-penetrating radar and geophysical locators to identify and map underground utilities across the site before any excavation begins. JMT will also contact 811 to request records of existing underground facilities in the project area.
Both contracts fell under the $50,000 threshold that allowed the board to exempt them from the state's Qualifications-Based Selection process under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 143-64.32. Each was approved unanimously.
Clark Nexsen, an architecture and engineering firm, appears in the survey proposal documents as part of the broader project team, suggesting early design work may already be underway.
The county has not announced a timeline for the full replacement project. Soil studies are expected to follow the current survey work, after which the county would move into architectural design and cost estimation — assuming the site checks out.
County Manager Deron Geouque presented both items to the board, noting that the surveys are a necessary step in determining whether construction on the existing site is feasible.
The Watauga County Board of Commissioners meets on the first and third Tuesdays of each month. Agenda packets and meeting minutes are available through the county's website.
