CAMDEN – The SAD 28 board voted at a special meeting Thursday to offer $215,000 to buy a 2.48-acre property adjacent to Rockport Elementary School West.

The property is owned by Edward Zanca, whose orthodontist office is on the property. The school district, if the offer is accepted, would not displace Zanca’s office but use an undeveloped portion of the property.

The district is planning a $14 million renovation and expansion of the RES West facility, which it bought in 2004 to operate a K-4 elementary school. RES East will be closed if the new school is approved by voters.

Residents of Camden and Rockport will be asked to approve borrowing $14 million for the project in a referendum on Nov. 7.

The offer for Zanca’s property, which was unanimously recommended by the district’s design committee, is contingent on voter approval of the funding for the project. District officials have said the additional land will allow a better project.

The design group concluded that while the project could be accomplished on the existing site, “the additional property enhances the project enough to warrant its purchase as it improves safety by allowing the complete separation of the bus loop and parent drop-off loop, provides for better-larger play areas, ensures a better overall site plan for parking, and allows more flexibility for expansion of the building should future enrollment or programs require it,” according to a statement issued by the board.

The board will host its first public hearing on the plan for the expanded school at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 7, at the Rockport Opera House. The board is scheduled to vote on the final plan and the wording of the referendum warrant at its regular meeting Sept. 12, also at the opera house.