BATH

The Morse High School building project continues to progress at a steady pace, as a straw poll on Wednesday night revealed that Bath city councilors were willing to possibly sell city property to Regional School Unit 1.

The nonbinding vote would help the school board “move forward and … take these possibilities to the state,” said Chairwoman Mari Eosco.

In October 2015, members of the RSU 1 board had voted in favor of building a new school for the project, rather than renovating the building on its existing site.

On Wednesday, Superintendent Patrick Manuel said the board was leaning toward purchasing the Wing Farm site and the athletic fields at the middle school, both of which are owned by the city.

“Obviously, the (Maine) Department of Education has a lot of experience in acquiring land and they’d like to see us have two options, as well as acquiring land at the most reasonable cost that we could because it’s a state-supported project,” he said.

Ron Lamarre of Lavallee Brensinger Architects also noted that the DOE is interested in settling on a site before designing the building.

If the school was built on the Wing Farm property, he said the school could continue to use the fields at the middle school during construction.

“While your existing Morse High School and tech center remain open … you have a construction site that’s going on that’s unobtrusive to anybody’s education at the time,” he said.

Also, the property provides adequate space for the middle school and high school to expand in the future.

One of the disadvantages to the Wing Farm site is that the RSU would need to own the property, Lamarre said.

“The state would need some kind of agreement that in some future time the city doesn’t go and sell those fields or stop using those fields, or say the RSU cannot use those fields because they wouldn’t want to be put in a position where they build a new high school and then 10 years later because of some circumstance, they lose access to these fields,” he said.

The existing water line on the property would also need to be dug up and up-sized or looped, and bus access could lead to developments to the road, a new connection from the intersection or an upgrade the existing road.

Building on the middle school site would likely lead to shared bus access between the two schools and expanded parking lots, Lamarre said. This could also lead to offsite improvements on Old Brunswick Road, depending on a second means of vehicular egress.

Combined sewage and drainage would also need to be separated, and a pumping station would likely be installed.

During the meeting, Councilor James Omo also clarified that the board is requesting that the city “sell the state both parcels in some way, shape or form.”

Lamarre agreed, calling this the “best case scenario,” though he said the city could also choose to come up with a long-term agreement or an easement for the RSU if they chose to build the school at Wing Farm, but didn’t want to sell the middle school property.

Bath resident Kate Bussey also shared her concern with selling the fields at the middle school, due to the success and community effort that went into making the turf field on the property possible.

“I think as you move forward with this, you really need to address the ownership of the turf and … all the things that have been done to try to get the field built — tons of people over eight or 10 years,” she said.

Eosco agreed, noting that this would be kept in mind throughout the decision process.

“It’s a good point, and I think we

need to make sure those are all sorted out as decisions are made down the line,” she said.

Following the meeting, City Manager Bill Giroux said that the turf field, stadium and track at the middle school site were also a concern for the councilors.

“I’m sensing from the council that it’s likely the council will require that it will be preserved for some length of time and in some form,” he said. “We’re going to negotiate those things and that will be part of the final deal one way or another.”

dkim@timesrecord.com

New over old

• IN OCTOBER 2015, members of the RSU 1 board had voted in favor of building a new Morse High School for the project, rather than renovating the building on its existing site.