By Amanda Estes

Staff Writer

    The South Portland City Council got its first look
at the proposed $56 million bond ordinance for South Portland High
School additions and renovations. With $29.4 million in interest, the
total annual cost, over a period of more than 20 years, will be $85
million. A public hearing is scheduled for May 21, but councilors met
some opposition on Monday as a member of the public asked for more
explanation about why the city is rebuilding on the existing high
school site.

    Reading from an email he sent to the council, David
Bourke questioned the assertion that there is no available land in the
city that would be more suitable for a new school.

    “For example, why couldn't we continue to use all of
the existing athletic fields and the virtually new auditorium at the
existing high school...the remaining high school structure could then
be demolished,” he said. “If we were then looking for a much smaller
site, let’s say about 20 acres to build a new or renovated high school
large enough to accommodate 1,000 vs. 1,200 students...then we would be
open to a whole new range of possibilities.”

    Councilor Ralph Baxter asked Dan Cecil of Harriman Associates to address Bourke’s concerns.

    “I don’t mind criticism, but I mind it when it is
misinterpreted,” Baxter said. He said all of the stakeholders had
exhausted the search for suitable land.

    Cecil said 20 acres would not be enough land for a
building to support 1,000 or 1,200 students. According to Department of
Education standards, a building for 1,200 students must be on a minimum
of 27 acres with no wetlands, good soil, and good topography. The city
would end up looking for 40 acres just to get those 27, he said. For
1,000 students, the minimum acreage would be between 25 and 27. The
existing high school campus comprises 29.9 acres, he said.

    “Twenty acres in South Portland with no wetlands,
with good soil, and good topography is simply unheard of,” he said.

    He said the extensive cost of buying land that would
most likely be located on the fringe of the city, did not make fiscal
sense.

    Addressing councilors’ questions about the logistics
of the bond, Finance Director Rob Coombs said depending on the interest
rates, the total bond could possibly be less than $85 million.

    Coombs also said the bond would come in four phases with payments on the entire amount starting in 2013.

    Jim Soule questioned why the bond ordinance did not
also include language stating the bond would be stretched out over a 20
year period.

    “When a homeowner goes to finance a house, they want
to know interest rates and time,” he said. Soule said the issue would
not affect his support for the bond, but its inclusion may be useful in
educating the public.

    Following the May 21 public hearing and if it passes
a second reading, voters will be asked to vote on the referendum in
November.