ROCKLAND – A kitchen where food can actually be cooked. An elevator for the disabled. Improved traffic flow, and many more parking spots.

A start date for RSU 13’s proposed renovations to Rockland’s Oceanside High School is yet to be determined, as contractors are still awaiting final approval from the Rockland Planning Board. As of Friday, Jan. 19, members of the Board still had questions regarding proposed details.

Provided that approval will ultimately be achieved in February, 15 months of construction will result in a 7,600-square-foot addition at the south side of the main entrance, as well as a 300-square-foot addition to the north side.

“The kitchen and cafeteria were the start of this entire project,” said John S. Kenney, senior civil engineer at WBRC Architects/Engineering, during the Tuesday, Jan. 16 presentation. “It will be a drastic improvement to what they have right now.”

Currently, all food is cooked at South School and then reheated at the high school.

According to RSU 13 Superintendent John McDonald, Oceanside is the largest populated school within the district. It has a small serving kitchen and a small cafeteria in a building designed to accommodate 500 students.

The cafeteria will be at the main entrance, allowing public, after-hours events to take place in an isolated area so that the rest of the building can be locked off. The number of public bathrooms in that area will also increase.

The current kitchen space will be turned into administrative, classroom, and conference space. The current cafeteria, already used as a ‘green room’ backstage area for the auditorium, will remain as such, but with wider doors for better movement between the two rooms.

A new elevator, approved by the fire department for being large enough to hold a stretcher, is the primary reason for the north side addition near the gymnasium. It will link off of the central main corridor and allow access to fitness rooms and locker rooms at the lower level.

The parking lot will not only allow for around 50 additional parking spaces, with ADA spaces increased from two to six, but it will also be designed with improved circulation for buses and parent-dropoffs in mind.

“We are able to do that by increasing the number of spaces at the high school and reducing the amount of impervious area at the same time,” Kenney said. “It will make the whole flow through the parking lot safe and intuitive as people come and leave the site.”

A new, well-lighted sidewalk will also provide pedestrian connectivity from Broadway to replace a pathway across a bridge currently exists.

In a 2017 referendum, district voters approved a $23.2 million bond allowing for construction of a Owls Head school building and renovations to some of the other schools.

Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com