Norwich ― There will be no referendum in November to change either the price or the scope of the $385 million school construction project, leaving project planners with a mandate to complete it for the price approved by voters.

The City Council on Monday withdrew two competing ordinances, one to raise the price by $50 million and one to cut the scope of the project to $342 million.

The project includes four new elementary schools, either a complete renovation or a new Teachers’ Memorial Global Studies Middle School with the School Building Committee leaning toward a new school and renovations to the Samuel Huntington School for central offices and adult education.

Both the School Building Committee and the Board of Education last week voted to recommend no new referendum, affirming they could revise the project to meet the $385 million approved by voters in 2022.

The biggest revision so far was to correct a mathematical error that overestimated middle school enrollment by 200 students. The correction allowed a reduction in size for the middle school, dropping the projected cost from $99 million to either $72.5 million for a new school or $69.27 million for extensive renovations.

On Tuesday, the building committee hired the MP Planning Group for $9,675 to conduct a demographics study to update enrollment figures. Those numbers will be required for state grant reimbursement for all portions of the project, committee Chairman Mark Bettencourt said..

MP Group Principal Michael Zuba said the group could do preliminary work immediately and be ready to incorporate new state enrollment projection data when it is released in October.

Schools starting to take shape

The building committee Tuesday got its first virtual look inside the new Greeneville and John B. Stanton schools, as project architect Jim Barrett of the DRA firm presented renderings of exteriors and images of bright, colorful interior hallways, cafeterias, gymnasiums and lobbies.

The committee previously had scaled back the cost estimates of the new buildings and on Tuesday approved several more changes to the Greeneville and Stanton school plans that collectively will save another $1.5 million.

The committee cut a planned second art room from each school, saving $1.25 million in construction costs. Acting Superintendent Susan Lessard said school officials visited the 700-student Griswold Elementary School, which originally had two art rooms.

But the school ended up converting one into an intervention room without hurting art offerings, Lessard said.

The committee agreed to eliminate ceiling fans in the two school gymnasiums, saving $100,000. Barrett said the fans tend to become caked with dust and are difficult to clean. He said some schools end up not even using them.

Another $100,000 was saved by switching from exterior sun shades for south-facing windows in favor of sun-blocking window glazing. Barrett said the glaze would achieve the same energy efficiency rating.

Additional savings are expected from building windows on site that allow the contractor to adjust to last-minute changes.

The next two new elementary schools, Uncas and John Moriarty schools, each were reduced by 5,000 square feet, with most spaces retained but slightly smaller.

The Huntington School renovation is the last portion of the project and will be based on available remaining funds after the new schools are completed and is expected to cost between $10.3 million and $13.8 million.

c.bessette@theday.com