East Lyme — After years of discussion about how to address the town's three aging elementary schools, a recommendation to one day close a school and renovate or rebuild two others is now before the school board.

The Elementary Schools Design Steering Committee recommended Monday to completely renovate and expand Niantic Center School, demolish and build a new Flanders Elementary School and return Lillie B. Haynes to the town.

The next step is for the school board to analyze the proposal and make its recommendation by Jan. 15, 2015 about how it wants to proceed. If all moves forward with the design of the project, there could be a referendum vote in May.

The committee said it recommends completely refurbishing Niantic Center, while adding a two-story addition and new gymnasium. It also proposes to build a new 75,000-square-foot school building on the site of the current Flanders Elementary School. Another option would be to also renovate Flanders. The renovations would include geothermal heating and air-conditioning and new spaces for more flexible and collaborative learning, according to Monday's presentation.

The committee, comprising school board members, school administrators and staff and community members, has been studying options for the district's three elementary school facilities since the spring.

In a presentation Monday, Superintendent of Schools James Lombardo, board Chairman Tim Hagen and architect Al Jacunski outlined how the committee decided on two schools, rather than renovating all the schools "as new" or creating one elementary school campus.

Hagen said renovating all three schools as new would save the town $250,000 in annual maintenance costs and would maintain the town's three neighborhoods schools. But he added that current enrollment projections don't support the need for three schools and this option would have the highest construction costs.

Creating one elementary school campus, the least expensive option, would save $1 million each year for staff and maintenance costs, but would bring a "huge cultural change" and also concerns about traffic and logistics, he said.

A two-school option would save $750,000 a year in maintenance costs and create two schools with fewer than 400 students each and release a building to the town but would also bring some cultural change.

While the committee stressed that educational quality and experience would be equal with any two of the three schools, the committee decided upon Niantic and Flanders.

Hagen and Jacunski mentioned that they were surprised that Niantic Center School ended up being as viable a site, since it is a smaller site than the other two, but they showed how an addition could be added to the site and how parking could be increased there.

In its decision, the committee considered factors, including operating cost savings, site location, the use of the vacated site and the cultural opportunities available near each school.

One of the many reasons for choosing the Niantic-Flanders option is that the bus system would easily support having one school at the north end of town and one at the south end.

The three elementary schools, built in the 1950s and 1960s, are facing infrastructure issues that would cost millions to repair and wouldn't qualify for state reimbursement, according to a 2011 facilities study.

Lombardo noted that all three of the schools have unique cultural opportunities and support from parents.

"We recognize that going to two will have an impact, but in the end the committee came to the decision that two new, wonderful schools will be a great thing for the children," he said.

According to the presentation, Flanders Elementary School on Boston Post Road was built in 1964, with additions in 1976. The Lillie B. Haynes building was constructed in 1957 and renovated in 1972. Niantic Center School on West Main Street was built in 1952, with renovations in 1976.

Before the design steering committee began meeting last spring, another committee, the Facilities Vision Task Force, preceded it. In 2013, the task force had presented in its final report three options for "further study and consideration" by the school board. The options were renovating both Flanders and Lillie B. Haynes and closing Niantic Center; closing all three schools and building a new complex at the site of Flanders or Lillie B. Haynes; or renovating all three schools.

Preliminary cost estimates show it would cost $66.9 million to renovate Niantic Center and rebuild Flanders, if the project is submitted to the state by June, but Jacunski said the cost could be lowered with project efficiencies.

The board also discussed housing LEARN offices and school programs, such as Coastal Connections, a work-study high-school program at Lillie B. Haynes.

Deputy First Selectman Mark Nickerson said one idea would be to house a new Town Hall at the Lillie B. Haynes building and move the police station to the existing Town Hall location on Pennsylvania Avenue. Lillie B. Haynes is also close to other town buildings, such as the community center and the library, according to the presentation.

k.drelich@theday.com

Twitter: @KimberlyDrelich