Cape Elizabeth has hired a consultant to guide the town through its new school project with the goal of sending a proposal to voters in November 2024.
A survey for residents about the school project is also being developed and will be mailed out this summer.
The Town Council and school board voted unanimously Tuesday to accept the School Building Advisory Committee’s recommendation of hiring Boston-based CBRE Heery as an owner’s representative to work with all parties involved in the project, from planning and design to construction and financing.
CBRE Heery was chosen from among four other applicants.
“They have extensive experience with K-12 school projects,” said Councilor Penny Jordan, who is the council’s representative on the School Building Advisory Committee. “We felt they had the knowledge and expertise.”
The town is also working with Portland Research Group on a town-wide survey expected to reach residents’ mailboxes this summer.
“We’re trying to have input from every voter,” Superintendent Chris Record said. “Why they voted the way they did last November and their thoughts on building projects going forward. We’re really trying to build schools for the community.”
A $115.9 million project to replace the town’s aging middle and elementary schools, currently in one building, was overwhelmingly defeated at the polls last year. Many residents opposed to the project said they were not against a new school but the 22.6% property tax increase that would have come with it was too high and also contradicted the town’s ongoing effort to become more affordable.
The School Building Advisory Committee, which has both a council and school board representative, is evidence of how important the new school is to the community, he said.
“To have two elected bodies in town work together to solve a real issue is what local government should be about,” Record told The Forecaster Wednesday. “It’s exciting to see that. It’s also unique that we’re hiring an owner’s rep at this stage of the process.”
Councilor Tim Reiniger at the meeting Tuesday questioned whether the school project could have been moved along more quickly for a vote this November. The presidential election in November 2024 could overshadow the local referendum, he said, and lead to a higher turnout of uninformed voters.
“I was surprised that this was going to take so long, this process,” Reiniger said. “Is there any way this could have been, realistically, sped up so that the vote would be this November after we spent the last several years looking at these issues?”
Council Chairperson Jeremy Gabrielson said the timeline for a referendum this November is tighter than it may appear.
“In order to have a proposal that we can put on a ballot in November, then we would have to have it in advance of our August (council) meeting,” he said. “That timeline would really necessitate we have a project delivered to the school board in the next two to three weeks.”
Jordan said she had thought the project could move forward quickly, too, until she realized “all of the nuances that need to occur,” including evaluating the work that’s already been done, dating back to 2017, and coming up with “an array of solutions” for the community to consider.
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