THORNDIKE – Plans for a new prekindergarten through 12th grade school for SAD 3 to replace the Mount View complex are back on track this week.

The school board voted Tuesday to authorize Superintendent Daniel Lee to begin negotiations with three property owners for the acquisition of 38 acres adjacent to the school.

Lee said Thursday he hopes to have purchase options on the properties completed and signed by the end of the month.

The eventual purchase of the properties would allow the district to construct the new school while continuing to operate the Mount View Elementary, Junior and High School with little interruption, Lee said.

The properties are south of the Mount View complex on Route 220. They are:

. A 15-acre parcel owned by Claude L. and Shirley M. Bessey.

. A 20-acre parcel owned by Willy Hugo Absalonsen.

. A 3-acre parcel owned by Harold and Marguerite Raven.

The land is level, which would reduce the site development costs that were anticipated in an earlier plan for building north of the Mount View complex.

“It’s flat, and it’s dry,” Lee said of the three parcels. Land to the north includes some wet spots, he said.

The land also would allow the building to be configured to give it southern exposure, a priority of many members of the district building committee.

Three-phase power is also available at the site.

Since the district is using what is essentially the same site, it can include demolition of the old school in the funding of the project.

Lee said the next step for the process is to seek the state Department of Education’s approval for the site selection.