CARIBOU, Maine — The idea of a new PK—8 school in Caribou has been discussed for over a year and both the Building Committee (composed of RSU 39 and Caribou community members) and PDT Architects of Portland have been working diligently to make the new facility a reality. However, since the school is to be built where Teague Park currently stands, National Park Service approval of the land swap is required before the school goes to referendum.
During a July 8 meeting between the Building Committee and PDT Architects, Chelsea Lipham (of PDT) presented a timeline for the project.
“If NPS approval is received in September, everything could be submitted in an application to the Department of Education in late September,” Lipham said. “Then there would be a meeting with the State Board of Education, and then a meeting for site approval. Concept design could then be submitted during the following month.”
Assuming NPS approves the land swap by September and all other steps of the process go smoothly, the earliest date for referendum would be February of 2017.
Lyndon Keck of PDT, who joined the meeting via Skype call, says that construction would likely start a year after the referendum, if it is successful.
“This schedule assumes a fast decision from the National Parks Service,” said Keck, “which is very hopeful. If we get their approval in December, all the dates would be adjusted. If we are able to pull off this schedule we wouldn’t have to have the referendum in February. It needs to be within six months of the state Board of Education’s approval.”
Lipham added that everything else will be ready for submission to the DOE as soon as possible.
“We’re going to be ready as soon as we get the go-ahead from the National Park Service,” Lipham said.
The idea of going to referendum without NPS approval was touched on, as Doak noted that Lewiston recently held a referendum, despite being in a similar situation with NPS.
Gary Marquis, committee member and Caribou Parks and Recreation superintendent, commented that there would likely be a fine or penalty for going to referendum without NPS’ blessing.
“What would be the earliest NPS would have to approve this to get to a November referendum?” Marquis asked.
“Today,” joked Keck. “You would need state Board of Education approval by early September or August. It’s just not going to happen.”
“In order to hit the ballots in time, everything would have to be done by September 10th or so,” said Caribou City Manager Austin Bleess.
Superintendent Doak expressed that all other aspects of the process should be handled efficiently.
“We should still submit to DOE as quickly as we can,” Doak said. then we should determine where to go from there.”
The next Building Committee meeting is scheduled for August 12 at 8:00 p.m. in the Caribou Wellness Center.
