Where to build new E.E. Smith High School? Cumberland County community debates new location

Cumberland County Schools and people in the Fayetteville community are still debating where to build the new E.E. Smith High School.

Some people want to build the new state-of-the-art STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) school at the current location at 1800 Seabrook Road in Fayetteville.

However, Fayetteville-based Sandhills Real Estate Holdings is offering 23 acres of land on Cochran Avenue for the new school.

"There is PWC [Public Works Construction] infrastructure that is already there in place on [the] land,” said Sandhills Real Estate Holdings co-owner Justin Tahilramani. “I think there's at least four, if not five different areas for ingress and egress.”

Tahilramani also mentioned how the current location of the school is about 2.2 miles of Sandhills Real Estate Holdings’ proposed site.

Fayetteville resident Freddie McLean owns property in the Seabrook-Broadell community that runs along the Sandhills Real Estate Holdings’ property.

“It doesn't bother me at all,” McLean said of Sandhills’ proposal to build the school on its property. “The school has been fine where it is as far as I know.

“So, it being in the back wouldn't make any difference to me."

Some leaders with Cumberland County Schools and Cumberland County commissioners have previously said they want to build the new school on 100 acres of land. However, Cumberland County commissioner Glenn Adams said the 23-acre location could work if they build an urban-style school with multiple floors.

“One hundred acres, to me, is, if you're going to build it out, kind of like traditional schools we do,” Adams said. “But if you go up to Wake County, they built up.

Adams said a multiple-floor building would also allow school leaders to consider other sites that were eliminated because of wetlands.

“If you’re not looking at 100 acres, you could put fields,” Adams said. “You could put parking on wetlands.

“You just can’t put a building on it.”

Adams said there is not a timeframe on when county and school leaders will decide on where to build the school. He said everything would be considered other than building the school in Fort Liberty.

Adams said he plans to meet with Sandhills Real Estate Holdings next week to discuss the proposed land offering.