SACO — The Ecology School will have to wait a little longer to learn whether it will be able to relocate to Simpson Road.

On Tuesday night, the City Council postponed a decision on whether to approve a contact zone that would allow the move, citing a need for the Planning Board to further review the request.

The Ecology School, which operates a residential ecology education program at space rented from the Ferry Beach Association, is under contract to purchase the former Riverbend Farm at 184 Simpson Road with the intent to move all operations there by 2019.

Riverbend Farm is a 105- acre former horse farm that was placed under an easement with the Saco Valley Land Trust in 1998 by former owner Mary Merrill.

Under terms of the easement, building is permitted only on the nine acres of land where a farm house and barn currently exist. Land use is restricted to farming, recreation and research. All commercial activity except farming is prohibited.

The school is asking the city for a contract zone, as zoning at that location does not allow for schools.

In October, the Planning Board recommended that the council approve the contract zone. The council was expected to give a final vote Tuesday night, but instead tabled the issue.

The sticking point was the size of new dormitories on the site.

The Ecology School wants to build three buildings on the farm – a dining hall with a 7,000-squarefoot footprint and two dormitories with a 9,000- square-foot footprint each.

There was some confusion on what the Planning Board’s recommendations were for The Ecology School’s proposed buildings.

Mayor Ron Michaud said he listened to the recording of the Planning Board meeting, and that the board had recommended a 9,000-square-foot total space for each dormitory – not a footprint of 9,000 square feet, as some had thought.

A footprint of 9,000 square feet would allow a building with a land mass of 9,000 square feet, with possible additional stories adding up to more than that.

Ecology School officials said they needed two dormitories, each at 9,000 square feet and three stories high, to accommodate residential students.

“Two buildings like that out in the country would look huge,” said Councilor Nathan Johnston.

Councilor William Doyle said the council should give the school the square footage it desired so it would have the space it needed to be successful. He noted that the council did not have to agree with a recommendation from the Planning Board.

“We have the power to override; that’s our governing authority,” he said.

The council voted to table the decision until Feb. 1 to allow the Planning Board to review the proposed dormitory size at a special meeting next week and come up with a new recommendation.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or [email protected].