The East Hampton Board of Education has endorsed plans for a large-scale renovation of a move that sets the project on the path for an April 9 townwide referendum.
The "renovate-as-new" project is expected to cost an estimated $52 million.
The school board’s approval is the first in a series of local approvals and reviews that the project must go through before the referendum date can be officially set.
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Backers of the proposal must also bring the plan to the Board of Finance for its approval, as well as the Town Council. Once those boards back the project, the proposal will go to a town meeting vote and then on to a referendum.
The High School Building Committee needs to get the project approved this spring in order to meet the state’s June 30 deadline for seeking state reimbursement.
Officials overseeing the possible rebuilding of East Hampton High School are estimating that the new building would be 133,863 total square feet, up slightly from the school’s current footprint of 128,495 square feet.
While the building would be larger, the actual program space in it would be less. The current high school programming space is 90,347 square feet. Under the renovation plan, the program space would be reduced to 87,011.
Despite the reduction, architects have said the renovated school would have adequate programming space for students and teachers.
