The Henrico County Board of Supervisors gave the county manager the go-ahead last night to buy 205 acres off Kain Road for $24.4 million.

The 4-1 vote came after more than an hour of discussion, including a tense exchange between Tuckahoe District Supervisor Patricia S. O'Bannon, who cast the dissenting vote, and County Manager Virgil R. Hazelett over how the proposed amount was reached between him and landowner Robert M. Atack.

The purchase of the Short Pump site -- proposed for a high school, park, fire station and fueling and water-storage facilities -- had been suspended for more than a year during an examination of county land deals. The proposed contract is $2.3 million less than what the county previously considered offering for the land.

"If you look out there you will not find the necessary 60 acres for a high school without the condemnation of dwellings," Hazelett said. "What concerns me the most is you probably have one of the last pieces of property to do what is absolutely necessary for this area of the county."

O'Bannon raised concerns in February 2007 that the county's offer at the time, $26.7 million, was more than double what Atack and other developers had paid for the site less than two years earlier. A subsequent county appraisal put the land's value at $18 million.

An independent commission's review of the county's land-purchase practices and a federal investigation followed.

After the vote, O'Bannon said she felt the board should have used its power of eminent domain to acquire the property.

Contact Melodie N. Martin at (804) 649-6290 or mmartin@timesdispatch.com