RALEIGH - Wake commissioners reversed themselves this week, voting 5-2 to spend up to $4.8 million to buy land off Forestville Road for a new high school.

The board voted 4-3 against buying the same 80 acre tract last month after a majority of the board expressed concern about an estimated $2.1 million in additional costs to remove a large amount of granite on the site, potentially requiring extensive blasting and grading.

Schools officials lobbied hard for the county board to reconsider, arguing that the tract was the only available land in its target area south of Rolesville that was suitable for building a high school campus. A developer selling part of the assembled land to the school system also agreed to drop the price by about $400,000 after the commissioners rejected the original deal.

The issue came back before the board Monday after Commissioner Lindy Brown agreed to change her vote from nay to yea. Brown said she was swayed by information provided by the school system that rock is common in that part of the county and that similar expenses for removing it likely would be incurred on other potential sites, which were all inferior.

Following lengthy discussion, board Chairman Joe Bryan also changed his prior vote to help approve the deal. The new high school is scheduled to be complete by 2011.

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