AMHERST — Amherst voters may decide the fate of a Proposition 2½ debt exclusion vote for a new elementary school building on May 2, based on a draft timeline for the project’s needed approvals being presented to the Town Council.
The possible dates for various milestones associated with the project, which could cost around $100 million or more, were included in the packet of materials for the council’s Oct. 17 meeting. The Massachusetts School Building Authority is predicted to reimburse the town 30-40% for the project.
The timeline comes after councilors expressed concerns at their Oct. 3 meeting about dates already being included in other information shared with the community.
The May 2 date for the override vote for the new three-story elementary school for K-5 students at the current Fort River School site received pushback from At Large Councilor Mandi Jo Hanneke, who said she was dismayed that an election date was already chosen by someone at Town Hall.
“I was not happy to see that someone sort of already put out a date there without the council even discussing it,” Hanneke said.
The plans are for the new building to be ready by the fall of 2026 and educate 575 students, consolidating the Wildwood and Fort River school populations, while sixth graders at all three elementary schools, including Crocker Farm, shift to the middle school next fall.
Other aspects of the timeline include the Dec. 9 meeting of the Elementary School Building Committee to review documents that will be sent to cost estimators, the Jan. 6, 2023 review of cost estimates and, a week later, the possible vote by that committee on submission of drawings, specifications, and overall budget to the Massachusetts School Building Authority.
On Jan. 23, there would be a presentation to the Town Council of costs, on Feb. 6 a vote would occur on the debt exclusion language and the actual date of referendum and, a week before the election, MSBA would confirm what it will provide the town as its share of the project.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.