CAMDEN, Maine — Residents in Camden and Rockport will go to the polls on Feb. 10 to decide whether to borrow at least $24 million for a new middle school and for renovations to the existing school and bus garage.
The School Administrative District 28 board voted unanimously Oct. 15 on a timeline for the school project.
The board is expected to vote at its November meeting to set the specific amount of the bond issue that will go to voters, Superintendent Elaine Nutter said Tuesday. She said there are still some variables to assess, including the exact cost of renovations to the bus garage and the price of replacement furniture. Officials also need to determine the most energy efficient heating system for the new school. Nutter said figures on those aspects of the project are expected by the Nov. 12 board meeting.
She said the school would reuse any furniture that is in good shape.
A public hearing on the bond issue will be held Feb. 2.
The new school is necessary because the existing one is in need of costly repairs, school officials have said. The middle school is a patchwork of buildings not designed to function as one school, the district has maintained. Officials have said it would cost less to build a new school than to renovate those old buildings. Renovations also would not address the traffic flow and pedestrian safety issues of the current arrangement, according to officials.
The school is directly adjacent to Knowlton Street, while the proposed new school would be set back more from the road.
Under the proposal, the existing original brick Mary E. Taylor School, built in 1925, would be renovated for administrative offices and for adult and alternative education programs, the superintendent said. The remaining buildings would be torn down.
The existing middle school has 122,000 square feet of space. The proposed new school would have 84,000 square feet but would be designed to be more efficient for use as a school and would accommodate 400 students. The classroom section of the building would be three stories, though the superintendent said that because of the grade of the property, it would not look that tall from Knowlton Street.
The plan is for the school to open for students in September 2017.