At a meeting Tuesday night of the MCPS Board of Trustees, the new site of Cold Springs Elementary School was disclosed.

Superintendent Mark Thane said the proposed school building will be located on an eight acre site near the intersection of Lower Miller Creek Road and Bitterroot.

"Overwhelmingly, the community had responded to the site that we had identified in Lower Miller Creek," Thane said. "Unfortunately, at that time, we were unable to reach an agreement with the landowner. As fate would have it, we were able to come back to those same property owners and put in another offer which was ultimately accepted."

Thane revealed the price and terms of the proposed purchase.

"The option includes an offer of $500,000, or the appraised amount, whichever is less," he said. "The new school will differ from the present location in a number of ways. The current school is basically cobbled together modulars that we originally got from Colstrip over 20 years ago. The new Cold Springs School will have a capacity of over 500 students, with four classrooms for each of the primary grades and two for each intermediate grade. We'll build it with full ADA compliance and energy efficiency. It's also going to be located much closer to where the majority of the Cold Springs population actually lives.There's a developed network of walking and biking trails, with a park right across the street, and  the traffic patterns will be greatly improved over the present site."

Thane said if voters approve the proposal, then construction on the new Cold Springs School could begin as early as next spring.

 

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