CHARLESTON - The state School Building Authority's board was impressed Tuesday with Cabell County's proposal for a new middle school, but raised concerns about the historical building on the intended site.

Cabell County Schools Superintendent William Smith and two other Cabell County officials presented the county's request for $21.56 million to build a new consolidated middle school for Enslow and Beverly Hills. Smith told the SBA during a meeting in Charleston that the University Heights property off U.S. 60 is the only site that will accommodate the project.

SBA Executive Director Mark Manchin said the former West Virginia Colored Children's Home, which is on the proposed school site, could present more problems than Smith and the Cabell County Board of Education might expect.

Located behind the Prestera Center and the West Virginia State Police barracks, the three-story building with its massive white columns is the largest of five structures on the 14-acre tract of land. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.

The property is now owned by Prestera Center for Mental Health Services, purchased from Marshall University for $2.3 million in November after Prestera outbid the school board by $400,000. The school board intends to take the property from Prestera through eminent domain and tear down the structures to make way for the new school.

Manchin said he was the superintendent in McDowell County and spent more than a year working with the state's historical society after proposing to build a new school on an old family cemetery, also on the Historical Register.

"It's an extremely difficult process; sometimes unsuccessful," Manchin said. "We went two years on a cemetery that faced similar issues to this."

Karen Nance, a historic preservationist opposed to the site because the school board wants to tear down the building, wasn't surprised by Manchin's warning.

She said it's the same thing she has tried to tell Smith about for months.

"I am glad (Manchin) is concerned about the site," Nance said. "The (SBA) understands the process is lengthy, and I don't think the school board does."

Smith has said he would like to save artifacts from the old orphanage for a museum at the new middle school, as well as add it to the eighth-grade curriculum for West Virginia studies.

Manchin said he had to do something similar in McDowell County as part of the mitigation for the cemetery.

Good plan or not, Manchin and some of the SBA board members said they needed updates about the status of the eminent domain and the mitigation for the historical home.

The SBA currently has about $67 million to give out for construction projects, but 31 counties are asking for more than $250 million.

Manchin said the state is expecting about $140 million more through the federal stimulus package, but he and the board have to award the grants based on what they know now.

And Cabell, he said, could be left on the outside if SBA officials think the mitigation process could take a while.

"It's probably going to be a long process," Nance added after the meeting. "(The Cabell County Board of Education) has decided and they won't budge."

Smith, who was accompanied by Mike O'Dell, assistant superintendent over operation, and board member Greg Borowski, asked the SBA for the money for a green, energy-efficient school, with Cabell pitching in $2 million in local funds.

Smith also said the board has planned to spend $2 million on site acquisition and $1 million for demolition costs.

The SBA is expected to announce grant recipients April 20.

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