CHELSEA -- School officials are moving closer to approving a design for the new elementary school, with a straw vote now scheduled for Dec. 2.

The vote on the concept plan is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the Chelsea Elementary School gymnasium. A concept plan illustrates the assessment, and possible suitable development, of a site.

School Superintendent Frank Boynton said representatives from a Biddeford architectural firm that school officials have hired, Oak Point Associates, will first outline a plan for the building project. Then there will be a question-and-answer session, followed by a vote.

"It's a straw poll, so it's not binding," Boynton said. "Architects have been talking to the public and staff and the principal, getting ideas and putting together a plan. In the meantime, we've been working with the state to get the plan to coincide with the amount of space the state will allow and looking at possibilities for additional space."

The state will assume the full cost of the building. But if residents want more space, he said, that would be a town-funded option.

Boynton said areas that might be worth enlarging are the gymnasium and cafeteria. The new school features a gymnasium separate from the cafeteria. A larger gym and cafeteria would benefit the students, he said, in both the elementary and middle-school grades.

"We wouldn't have to serve too many lunch shifts in the cafeteria," he said. "And there would be more space in the gym for holding public meetings and events and performances. It's just an option put out there so the town could have some more space at the school."

The plan proposes to put the school on a 17-acre property on Route 226, formally federal property at the Togus veterans hospital.

Boynton said the size of the new two-story building will be 59,000 square feet. That's 21,000 square feet bigger than the old school. The outside material has yet to be selected.

The present student population for kindergarten through eighth grade at the school is 284. At the current facility, a number of classrooms are in portable structures.

"The room sizes will be about 800 square feet, except for some of the specialty rooms, which are a little bit larger," Boynton said. "And there will be some smaller rooms, and obviously the office space would be smaller. There will be a full-size baseball and softball field and a full-size soccer field. They kind of overlap each other."

The final plan will be voted on in a referendum next spring, he said.

After officials get a better idea of the concept plan and approximately what the costs will be, they will move ahead with the project and seek approval from the state. Boynton has estimated the cost of the project would be around $14 million.

"We'll take all that to the state and they'll say, 'Yes, this looks like a good idea,' and then we'll go forward with the next phase, which is really the hard work of putting the design together," he said.

Boynton hopes a large number of people will show up for the straw poll. He said it will give them a chance to learn more about the project.

Mechele Cooper -- 623-3811,

ext. 408

mcooper@centralmaine.com