SACO — The site selection for two proposed school buildings in Saco — one to house pre-K and kindergarten students another for students Grades 1-5 — earned a vote of confidence from a group of Saco residents Dec. 14.

Thirty-four voters were in favor of the plan, seven were against, and four abstained during  a “straw poll” held at Saco Middle School Dec. 14.

The poll served as a non-binding, temperature check on the site selection for the new school campus. After comparing three top contenders, the school department and the architecture and engineering firm Oak Point Associates chose a plot of land between Mill Brook Road and Route 1 that bumps up against the Eastern Trail, and conducted a comprehensive survey of the land to make sure the plot is suitable.

Although a rejection of the site would not have forced the city and school department to abandon their site pick, the positive results means they can head into their next meeting with the state armed with the knowledge that the community is on board with their choice. The city is getting funding from the Maine Department of Education school construction program for the vast majority of the larger Grades 1-5 building, which they estimate will serve nearly 1,000 students.

The next meeting on the books is with the School Construction Committee of the Maine State Board of Education board on Dec 29, which precedes a more important meeting with the Maine State Board of Education on Jan. 10 when the body will cast a vote on the project.

While the majority of voters were in favor of the plan, there will some negative questions and comments.

One woman who lives and operates a business on Route 1 said that she was concerned that her property could be taken by eminent domain in service of the project. She also said that Superintendent Jeremy Ray, who led the Dec. 14 meeting, had failed to tell her about the straw vote even though they had spoken on the phone that day.

Ray said that the school had already sent the woman an initial plan that only asked for “temporary grading easements” — which means the city would obtain possession of a portion of the woman’s property for a limited duration of time. When asked directly whether any property would be taken by eminent domain, Ray said he did not think any property would.

While the project site is not in the Industrial Zone, (it’s technically in the Portland Road Zone), the property abuts the IZ and the entranceway to the school site from Mill Brook Road will pass through the industrial zone via an existing right-of-way.

Some at the meeting were concerned about the prospect of having the school campus so close to the Industrial Zone. 

One person asked the school department and Oak Point to confirm they had done a comprehensive evaluation of any hazardous chemicals or materials in the area, citing the experience of a friend who was diagnosed with breast cancer early in life because her school had been near an industrial zone. 

“A pretty extensive sampling routine was taken to evaluate exactly that,” said Oak Point Associates Civil Engineer Jonah DeWaters. “We feel pretty confident at this point that there aren’t any contaminants on the site.”

One person said they were concerned that businesses on Mill Brook road were not supportive of the plan to have the school campus so close by, but another person said he’d spoken with a number of businesses on Mill Brook and said they were on board.

While the school department and Oak Point did not have the answers to every question — and in at least one instance pointed out that every site would have both positives and negatives — the site selection process as described in the presentation came across as thorough and thoughtful.

The school and Oak Point have an important deadline looming this spring. The project must all be OK’ed by the voters in Saco before it can break ground, and the group hopes to put it on the June 2024 ballot.

Best case scenario, the school campus would be ready for the 2027 school year, the school department said in an email to the Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier in November.

Before then, they must come up with a concept design that will need both local and state sign off. The school department had hoped to put the construction project on the ballot in November, but was not able to secure their traffic permit approval in time.

While state money will be used to fund the majority of the Grades 1-5 school, municipal taxpayer money will be used to fund the pre-K and kindergarten building. Some local money will be tapped for proposed areas in the Grades 1-5 building that are not covered by the state, like increased cafeteria size.

“The additional local cost space represents approximately 5-10% of the total building space for the proposed (grade) 1-5 building,” according to materials passed out at the Dec. 14 meeting.

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