LEWISTON – A straw vote asking Lewiston residents for design and site considerations approval of a new Pettingill Elementary School will be held at the existing school at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

As proposed, the school would be built where the College Street Driving Range is, about one mile from the existing 409 College St. school.

At Wednesday’s meeting, residents will hear what the building is expected to cost, and how it will be laid out on the site, said Superintendent Leon Levesque. Levesque could not say what the school is projected to cost late last week because the amount won’t be finalized until Tuesday, he said.

“Pettingill is rated by the state as one of the neediest schools in Maine, which is why it made the (state funding) list,” Levesque said. “Ninety-eight percent of the costs would be paid for by the state.”

A new school would enable the Lewiston School Department “to really enhance our education infrastructure,” he said.

The new K-6 school would be built for up to 624 children and relieve overcrowding at the Montello Elementary School. At Montello there are more than 900 students, and the school uses two double portable classrooms.

The need for a new Pettingill school is great, Levesque said, adding part of the building was built in the 1930s, and an addition was built in the 1950s. The new school would have a gymnasium, cafeteria, computer lab, offices and rooms for the school nurse, tutoring and guidance. “Guidance now is down in the cellar,” Levesque said.

The school would also have a music room and an art room. The existing music room is “next to the boiler room in the basement,” Levesque said, and the art room “is a cart transported from room to room.” The new school would allow Pettingill to offer a pre-K program, Levesque said.

If approved, the new school would be designed to be energy efficient. The building would be built to make maximum use of daylight, “and motors and switches would be built to conserve energy,” Levesque said.

This is the second straw vote asked of voters. At an earlier straw vote, residents approved the site location.

Approval of the concept design Wednesday is needed before the Lewiston School Department asks the State Board of Education for its approval in November. If both are gained, a citywide referendum on the school would be held in January or February, Levesque said.

If the school is ultimately approved, plans call for the new Pettingill to open in the fall of 2009.