Lakeville to revote Old Colony project

LAKEVILLE -- The proposed $288 million Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School building project will be brought back to Lakeville voters on June 20. 

The Old Colony District School Committee unanimously approved a revote to take place during a Wednesday, April 22 meeting.

School Committee Chair Nancy Souza said it is important for this project to come back to residents a second time. 

“We'd like to reach a broader audience and give it another try,” Souza said. “We are the voice of our students, and we just feel that it's important enough and a big enough project that we need to reach out to as many people as we can.”

The current, aging building is in need of repairs and infrastructural updates. It also does not meet state space requirements and lacks accessible bathrooms. These changes would be costly, with about $134 million needed to make all of the needed repairs.

The school received a grant from the Massachusetts School Building Authority to cover $129 million of the building project, leaving member towns collectively responsible for the remaining $159 million.

“Financially is always a hard pill to swallow, but we're putting kids out into the workforce,” Souza said. “We'd like to right-size this building.”

Voters soundly defeated the project in November, when the issue first came before voters. Across the five towns, 5,035 residents voted, with 1,923 in support and 3,112 against the proposal.  Only Mattapoisett approved the project.

Lakeville turned down the project by 54 votes, with 478 in opposition and 424 in support.

At that time, the tax impact to the average Lakeville resident would have been $425.34, Lakeville Town Administrator Andrew Sukeforth said.

That number is outdated, Sukeforth said this week. New figures will be presented, he said, and more details will be discussed at the April 28 Lakeville Select Board meeting