ROCKY HILL - Rocky Hill voters will have a new school to vote on this November.

       The Town Council voted unanimously to move a proposal for a 79,000 square foot intermediate school to the referendum ballot after fielding a litany of impassioned pleas from Rocky Hill residents urging them to address lingering space constraints driven by growing student enrollment.

       â€�"The intermediate school will alleviate the overcrowding,” said town resident Lisa Morata, an organizer with Stay Invested, a residents’ political action committee formed to advocate for the project. â€�"It’s a permanent solution to a problem that has existed for a long time.”

       Some say it was an issue even 30 years ago, as evidenced by the presence of portable trailer classrooms back then. Today, the district has 14 of them, and with fifty more elementary-level students projected for the start of the coming school year, Superintendent of Schools Mark Zito does not expect the problem to fix itself anytime soon.

       â€�"The numbers continue to climb, and it’s putting pressure on the infrastructure,” Zito told the Council.

       The town spent $496,000 to add four of the temporary spaces this budget cycle. At West Hill Elementary-which will jump from 720 students to 750 between June and September-the playground was relocated for a $75,000 cost.

       â€�"These are costs, and they’re temporary fixes,” Zito said.

       The result will be a strain on â€�"fixed spaces” such as the cafeteria and gymnasium, he said.

       â€�"You can see a point where you have to start lunch at 10:30.” Zito said.

       Madeline Morris, a Rocky Hill High School student starting eleventh grade in September, says that she dealt with these issues while growing up in the district.

       â€�"I want all students to have the opportunities I’ve had, but if we don’t take action soon, the quality will exponentially decrease,” Morris said.

       She also expressed concerns regarding class sizes-particularly at the lowest grade levels.

       â€�"Not learning the proper information in first grade can affect them for their entire Rocky Hill career,” Morris said.

       Meanwhile, NESDEC is projecting an additional 250 students over the next three years. The town currently has between 1400 and 1500 children under the age of six, according to Zito.

       So the Board’s proposal is to construct an intermediate school for grades 4 and 5-for 580 students total. The plans include six 1200 square foot STEM classrooms, a full-sized gymnasium, and space for World Language instruction-in order to introduce the subject matter to students at a younger age.

       The school would eliminate the need for portable classrooms by taking the two grade levels out of both West Hill and Stevens.

       The blueprint-for a 79,150 square foot building-calls for 26 classrooms total, with two designed to specialize in World Language.

       Zito also envisions adding a couple of soccer/lacrosse fields, to help accommodate Parks and Recreation and athletic programs in town that are already tight on field space.

       With the cost of asbestos abatement factored in, the project as a whole would run for $48 million-before a $17 million state reimbursement, according to Friar Associates.