South Portland High plan gets board’s initial approval
By David Harry
Staff Writer
Barring a change of heart between now and Sept. 8, South Portland councilors are prepared to ask voters to approve or reject a $44.2 million bond to renovate and expand South Portland High School.
Councilors in a 4-2 vote Monday approved the first reading of an ordinance to put the bond question on the Nov. 2 ballot. Councilors Jim Hughes and Rosemarie De Angelis voted against the first measure.
Councilor Maxine Beecher was unable to attend the special meeting, but during a council workshop Aug. 18 said she supported the $44.2 million bond amount.
Auburn-based Harriman Architects and Engineers developed the plan to raze and rebuild a portion of the school known as “the annex,” add a third floor to the original section of the school, construct a new cafeteria and library and renovate Beal Gymnasium. The work is expected to cost $47 million and be completed by 2015.
If the bond is approved, work is expected to begin in 2012. Before approving the first reading, school expansion and renovation plans underwent peer reviews by Wright-Ryan Construction and HKTA Architects, both based in Portland. Those reviews justified the cost, but did not evaluate the need for expansion.
The school was built in 1952 and has expanded several times since then.
Renovation and new construction plans call for enclosing the area behind the school that now houses a power plant and delivery area for the cafeteria. Including the auditorium, the school would be expanded to 307,000 square feet from about 200,000.
In a tour of the school, Principal Jeanne Crocker said the outdoor area is now used by students trying to get to meals or as a shortcut to classes and would become the new student entrance to the school.
The $44.2-million bond will help cover the estimated $39 million construction cost, site work and storm water drainage improvements. State money through Efficiency Maine energy improvement rebates and bond money of about $750,000 will offset some of the remaining costs.
South Portland Finance Director Greg L’Heureux said three bonds would be issued, beginning with $330,000 to start work in 2012 and 2013. Twenty-year bonds valued at $27 million would go on sale in 2012, and $17 million of 20-year bonds would go on sale in 2014.
Paying interest and principal on the bonds would total about $65.1 million and add an estimated $1,724 in property taxes to a home valued at $200,000 over 20 years. L’Heureux said the estimated effect on property taxes is also based on the city retiring other bond debt.
The council vote precedes a second reading at the Sept. 8 meeting. For the bond to be placed on the Nov. 2 ballot, councilors must decide on an amount at that meeting.
De Angelis and Hughes, who opposed the current bond amount, noted that the plan amounts to a 50 percent increase in square footage at the school and are concerned the plan is too large a project and potentially costly down the road.
“I urge the councilors to vote against it, to be the frugal Yankees we are supposed to be,” Hughes said. “We need the best, not the biggest.”
The work would be done in phases and require use of portable classrooms as the annex is torn down and then rebuilt with three floors of classrooms to accommodate a “team” style of educating students.
Crocker said the team style would group about 80 students at a grade level and keep them together through each subject in the curriculum and floor of the school. To accommodate these plans, team rooms are also planned throughout the added floors and reconstructed annex.
De Angelis said it is important to consider the true cost to taxpayers and how many students will ultimately use the school.
“I don’t believe big buildings bring big results,” she said.
South Portland resident Albert DiMillo agreed, and said his research indicates school renovations to meet space demands and health and safety code requirements would need a $25 million bond.
“You can always expand, but you can’t subtract,” DiMillo said.
DiMillo says adding auditorium space in the square footage equations creates about 279 square feet per student, well above the state-required 185 square feet per student, based on an enrollment of 1,100 students.
DiMillo and De Angelis also questioned plans that call for the school to accommodate 1,100 students.
South Portland School Superintendent Suzanne Godin said the planned school capacity is derived from a 2008 study by Planning Designs, a South Portland-based consulting company.
At the Aug. 18 workshop, Godin praised the study as precise so far. Study documents show the highest projections for high school enrollment peak at 1,073 students in 2017-2018. That maximum includes a 5 percent margin of error, which increases the number from 1,022.
Godin said the plan for 1,100 students is based on an increase in elementary school enrollment, although the Planning Design study indicates elementary school enrollment will decrease from 1,541 in 2011-2012 to 1,457 in 2017-2018, without accounting for the 5 percent margin of error. Fewer students may continue on to the high school because of families moving, sending children to private schools and because elementary school enrollment figures are based on six grades as opposed to four for the high school.
Among those speaking in favor of the bond was Ross Little, a resident who participated on the committee that studied how to renovate the school. Little said Monday he came to the committee as skeptical as DiMillo regarding cost and size and now is convinced the project is valid.
“Twenty-five million gets a building and half an electrical system,” Little said.
The physical condition of the school was cited in a 2008 New England Association of Schools and Colleges visit as a potential problem in the school’s accreditation. Specifically noted were a lack of handicapped access throughout the school, outdated wiring and leaks in windows and roofs.
The annex poses particular challenges to students who have trouble walking, Crocker said, because its split-level design feature an elevator on one end and a wheelchair lift on the other.
In his science class in the annex basement, veteran teacher Ralph Newell said he has enough space to teach, but his room is poorly ventilated.
Newell, who has taught at the high school since 1983, said renovation and construction are needed to make the school viable for 21st century learning.
“Every nook and cranny of space has been used,” Newell said. “We are at a point in the cycle where we have to do something.”
Newell said he is a few years from retiring and ready to accept higher taxes to enhance education.
As they spoke Monday, councilors were uncertain voters would accept a $44.2 million bond. Voters in 2007 rejected a $56 million high school renovation and construction bond by a 3-1 margin.
DiMillo encouraged councilors to approve the amount despite his opposition to the cost.
“Put it through, let it fail, and then put together a real committee to get this done,” he said.
Mayor Tom Coward said the bond would fund the most ambitious and expensive project in city history. Coward said he could be convinced to support a lower bond amount before the second reading vote.
Staff writer David Harry can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 219
Staff Writer
Barring a change of heart between now and Sept. 8, South Portland councilors are prepared to ask voters to approve or reject a $44.2 million bond to renovate and expand South Portland High School.
Councilors in a 4-2 vote Monday approved the first reading of an ordinance to put the bond question on the Nov. 2 ballot. Councilors Jim Hughes and Rosemarie De Angelis voted against the first measure.
Councilor Maxine Beecher was unable to attend the special meeting, but during a council workshop Aug. 18 said she supported the $44.2 million bond amount.
Auburn-based Harriman Architects and Engineers developed the plan to raze and rebuild a portion of the school known as “the annex,” add a third floor to the original section of the school, construct a new cafeteria and library and renovate Beal Gymnasium. The work is expected to cost $47 million and be completed by 2015.
If the bond is approved, work is expected to begin in 2012. Before approving the first reading, school expansion and renovation plans underwent peer reviews by Wright-Ryan Construction and HKTA Architects, both based in Portland. Those reviews justified the cost, but did not evaluate the need for expansion.
The school was built in 1952 and has expanded several times since then.
Renovation and new construction plans call for enclosing the area behind the school that now houses a power plant and delivery area for the cafeteria. Including the auditorium, the school would be expanded to 307,000 square feet from about 200,000.
In a tour of the school, Principal Jeanne Crocker said the outdoor area is now used by students trying to get to meals or as a shortcut to classes and would become the new student entrance to the school.
The $44.2-million bond will help cover the estimated $39 million construction cost, site work and storm water drainage improvements. State money through Efficiency Maine energy improvement rebates and bond money of about $750,000 will offset some of the remaining costs.
South Portland Finance Director Greg L’Heureux said three bonds would be issued, beginning with $330,000 to start work in 2012 and 2013. Twenty-year bonds valued at $27 million would go on sale in 2012, and $17 million of 20-year bonds would go on sale in 2014.
Paying interest and principal on the bonds would total about $65.1 million and add an estimated $1,724 in property taxes to a home valued at $200,000 over 20 years. L’Heureux said the estimated effect on property taxes is also based on the city retiring other bond debt.
The council vote precedes a second reading at the Sept. 8 meeting. For the bond to be placed on the Nov. 2 ballot, councilors must decide on an amount at that meeting.
De Angelis and Hughes, who opposed the current bond amount, noted that the plan amounts to a 50 percent increase in square footage at the school and are concerned the plan is too large a project and potentially costly down the road.
“I urge the councilors to vote against it, to be the frugal Yankees we are supposed to be,” Hughes said. “We need the best, not the biggest.”
The work would be done in phases and require use of portable classrooms as the annex is torn down and then rebuilt with three floors of classrooms to accommodate a “team” style of educating students.
Crocker said the team style would group about 80 students at a grade level and keep them together through each subject in the curriculum and floor of the school. To accommodate these plans, team rooms are also planned throughout the added floors and reconstructed annex.
De Angelis said it is important to consider the true cost to taxpayers and how many students will ultimately use the school.
“I don’t believe big buildings bring big results,” she said.
South Portland resident Albert DiMillo agreed, and said his research indicates school renovations to meet space demands and health and safety code requirements would need a $25 million bond.
“You can always expand, but you can’t subtract,” DiMillo said.
DiMillo says adding auditorium space in the square footage equations creates about 279 square feet per student, well above the state-required 185 square feet per student, based on an enrollment of 1,100 students.
DiMillo and De Angelis also questioned plans that call for the school to accommodate 1,100 students.
South Portland School Superintendent Suzanne Godin said the planned school capacity is derived from a 2008 study by Planning Designs, a South Portland-based consulting company.
At the Aug. 18 workshop, Godin praised the study as precise so far. Study documents show the highest projections for high school enrollment peak at 1,073 students in 2017-2018. That maximum includes a 5 percent margin of error, which increases the number from 1,022.
Godin said the plan for 1,100 students is based on an increase in elementary school enrollment, although the Planning Design study indicates elementary school enrollment will decrease from 1,541 in 2011-2012 to 1,457 in 2017-2018, without accounting for the 5 percent margin of error. Fewer students may continue on to the high school because of families moving, sending children to private schools and because elementary school enrollment figures are based on six grades as opposed to four for the high school.
Among those speaking in favor of the bond was Ross Little, a resident who participated on the committee that studied how to renovate the school. Little said Monday he came to the committee as skeptical as DiMillo regarding cost and size and now is convinced the project is valid.
“Twenty-five million gets a building and half an electrical system,” Little said.
The physical condition of the school was cited in a 2008 New England Association of Schools and Colleges visit as a potential problem in the school’s accreditation. Specifically noted were a lack of handicapped access throughout the school, outdated wiring and leaks in windows and roofs.
The annex poses particular challenges to students who have trouble walking, Crocker said, because its split-level design feature an elevator on one end and a wheelchair lift on the other.
In his science class in the annex basement, veteran teacher Ralph Newell said he has enough space to teach, but his room is poorly ventilated.
Newell, who has taught at the high school since 1983, said renovation and construction are needed to make the school viable for 21st century learning.
“Every nook and cranny of space has been used,” Newell said. “We are at a point in the cycle where we have to do something.”
Newell said he is a few years from retiring and ready to accept higher taxes to enhance education.
As they spoke Monday, councilors were uncertain voters would accept a $44.2 million bond. Voters in 2007 rejected a $56 million high school renovation and construction bond by a 3-1 margin.
DiMillo encouraged councilors to approve the amount despite his opposition to the cost.
“Put it through, let it fail, and then put together a real committee to get this done,” he said.
Mayor Tom Coward said the bond would fund the most ambitious and expensive project in city history. Coward said he could be convinced to support a lower bond amount before the second reading vote.
Staff writer David Harry can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 219
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