|
New Gorham Elementary School Project
Site Search Update
November 8, 2007
To: Appropriate & Interested Parties
Fr: Ted Sharp, Superintendent of Schools & The New Elementary School Building Committee, James Hager, Chairman
Re: New Elementary School Site Update
During the past nearly two years, the Building Committee has been engaged in an intensive and extensive search for a parcel of land, preferably in the corridor of Little Falls northward, to construct a new elementary school for approximately 550 students, grades K-5. The construction of this school is the result of several applications to the Maine State Department of Education to replace the present White Rock School. That building and site do not meet State requirements for the construction of a new and significantly larger school. The State will purchase a maximum of twenty-six acres and assume most of the cost for the construction of the new school. The construction of this school will enable the School Department to significantly reduce the crowded conditions at Narragansett School and Village School, each of which will also
become a K-5 school with the opening of the new school in September 2011.
Early in October, after an extended study of a property in the Little Falls area of Gorham, and, subsequent to two commercial appraisals of that property, several months of discussion with the property owner, and a formal offer to purchase that property, the landowners decided not to sell the land. That site had earned a high rating on the matrix used to determine the viability of a land parcel for the construction of a school.
At the Town Council meeting of Tuesday evening, October 16, 2007, the Council approved the Building Committee's request to conduct preliminary site work on the Chick property to determine whether or not that site meets state requirements for the construction of a school. Subsequently, several meetings have been held to review and discuss other potential sites, as well. The focus of these meetings is to review, once again, any sites that may have scored well on the matrix and/or sites that for a variety of reasons had not been a focus. The matrix, established by the Building Committee with assistance from the architect, engineer and the Office of School Construction at the Department of Education, identifies over twenty items against which each site is assessed. Three of the primary indicators include public water, sewer, and three-phase
power.
A review of the remaining sites reaffirmed why two of those earlier sites are not viable, leading us to focus on one other parcel, in addition to the Chick property. An earlier inquiry concerning the availability of one site had not been fruitful, yet it was decided that we would contact that owner once again to determine whether or not there was any possibility of acquiring that land, should it score well on the matrix, subsequent to a preliminary study of that site. The location of the property provided sufficient rationale to make another inquiry. As a result, contact was made with the owner to determine if they might be interested in exploring the sale of some of their property and the response was in the affirmative.
During two meetings in October of the New Elementary School Building Committee the Committee reviewed viable school site options from a list of over thirty original sites. Using the matrix against which each potential site is assessed, only the Chick property and one other site, met the required qualifications for the construction of a school.
It is our intent that within several weeks we will have secured all of the necessary information with respect to both properties to determine if either one, or both, is a legitimate option for our consideration. Given the guidelines and timelines as established by the School Construction office of the Maine Department of Education, particularly with respect to the State Bond cycle for this round of approved school construction projects, we have only a 4-6 week window of opportunity to accomplish this extended search without placing at some considerable risk the construction of a new elementary school.
Please check the Gorham School Department website (New Elementary School Link) to secure periodic updates concerning the work of the Building Committee and the status of the New Elementary School construction project. Periodically, information on the progress of this work will also appear in the Gorham Times.
| 
