Essex School Building Committee Clears Invoices, Sets November 2026 Vote Target

ESSEX — March 10, 2026 — Essex Elementary School Building Committee advances four design schemes toward cost estimating, targeting a November 2026 town meeting. The committee, meeting March 10, approved two consultant invoices — $46,010 to Dorne Whittier and $35,077.13 to JCJ Architecture — and heard that all design documents would be submitted the next day to two independent cost estimators. JCJ Architecture's Jeff Elliot presented refinements to new-construction scheme F, calling it the strongest option for meeting the district's educational program, and noted it now accommodates a regulation soccer field and a consolidated art, world language, and media center adjacency on the main floor. Members learned that any mechanical or structural work to the existing building would likely trigger full seismic upgrades under current code, a finding now factored into cost estimates for the code-upgrade alternative. The committee confirmed a community feedback session for March 24, a cost-estimate review on April 14, and a target date for submitting the preferred schematic report to the Massachusetts School Building Authority on April 28, with a town meeting vote and debt-exclusion ballot projected for late 2026.