FARMINGTON – Voters in the towns of SAD 9 on Thursday approved building a new elementary school in Farmington at an estimated cost of $18.9 million.

With a light turnout in the nine member towns, the overall vote was 488-135 for the project that would cost SAD 9 taxpayers $75,000. The state would pick up 99.6 percent of the cost through state bonding.

Following this vote, the project is due to go to bid in December 2009. Construction would begin in early spring 2010 and the school would open in September 2011, SAD 9 Assistant Superintendent Sue Pratt has said.

The project includes building a more energy-efficient, safer pre-kindergarten-through-grade-three school behind the vintage 1930 W.G. Mallett School. The Mallett School will be removed but its footprint will be turned into a playground for the new school.

The 60,000-square-foot school will be 20,000 square feet larger than the Mallett School, architect Stephen Blatt has said.

With a cafeteria and gymnasium close to the front door, the school could also serve as a community building with the classroom section closed off for night meetings, he said.

Bus routes and parking were issues for the school board over the past year. The final plan calls for buses to circle a loop from Middle Street to drop off or pick up students near a covered front porch. A separate drive with parking spaces for parents also enters from Middle Street, goes around the school and exits on Quebec Street.