CAMDEN, Maine —- Voters will have their say Tuesday on whether the school district should borrow $28 million to build a new Camden-Rockport Middle School.
Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Washington Street conference room at the town office in Camden and at Richardson Room at the town office in Rockport.
The School Administrative District 28 Board has said the new school is necessary because the existing one is in need of costly repairs. The district has said the estimated cost of renovating the existing middle school is $27.5 million.
The $28 million bond for the new 84,000-square-foot school on the grounds of the current Knowlton Street campus would include the cost of renovating the 1925-built Mary E. Taylor portion of the existing middle school for administrative offices as well as for adult and alternative education programs. The bond also would cover the cost of renovating the existing bus barn to allow for more space for buses.
The administrative offices share space in the bus garage, which is located on the middle school campus.
The remainder of the existing middle school, other than the Mary E. Taylor portion, would be demolished.
The school district also contends that the design of the existing middle school is inefficient and requires students to spend a lot of time walking long distances between classes and classes start late on a daily basis because of it.
On top of that, the district said renovations to the middle school would not address the concerns of having buses, parents’ vehicles and walking students all in the same area along Knowlton Street.
The new school would be built farther from the road to allow for a proper design for bus, vehicle and pedestrian flow.
The plan is for the school to open in September 2017.
Town officials in both Camden and Rockport have voiced concern about both the cost of the project and the timing of the referendum. The Camden Select Board had formally asked the school board to reschedule the vote until June in hopes of getting more people to vote.
The school district has projected that if the $28 million in borrowing is approved, a Rockport property owner could pay up to $87 more per $100,000 of assessed property. In Camden, that increase would be $81 more per $100,000 of assessed property.