CAMDEN, Maine — The School Administrative District 28 board voted Wednesday night to set the amount of a Feb. 10 bond issue at up to $28 million for construction of a new middle school and associated projects.
The bond would cover the cost of constructing an 84,000-square-foot school on the property where the current middle school is located.
The new school is necessary because the existing one is in need of costly repairs, school officials have said. The current 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 current school is directly adjacent to Knowlton Street, while the proposed new school would be set back more from the road.
The new school would be able to educate up to 400 students.
In addition to covering the cost of building the new school, the bond money would pay for renovating the original 1925-built brick Mary E. Taylor School for administrative offices and for adult and alternative education programs. The remaining part of the middle school building would be torn down.
The bond also would pay for renovations to the bus garage building, which now is used, in part, for administrative offices. The changes would allow for more space for buses.
Furniture for the new school also would be covered under the bond, although the school district has said it would reuse any furniture that is in good shape.
A public hearing on the bond issue will be held Feb. 2.
The superintendent’s office plans to present what the annual cost of the proposed borrowing will be to the school and select boards from both Camden and Rockport at a meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. at the middle school.
The plan is for the school, which serves students from Camden and Rockport, to open in September 2017.