Working with the town of Windsor, the Weld RE-4 School District is altering its $179 million bond package to relocate Windsor Middle School to a 140-acre property in northwest Windsor with a projected opening date in 2024.

The Weld RE-4 School Board will vote on accepting the bond package during a special meeting on Aug. 30. With the board's approval, the measure will then go to district voters on the November ballot.

Information on the revision to the district's planned bond package was scheduled to go out in a communication to families on Wednesday afternoon.

Within the last month, the town of Windsor and the school district realized they had the opportunity to obtain the larger parcel of land northwest of Windsor — about three miles from the current middle school on Main Street — where the district hopes to build a 900-student middle school for $63 million.

Under the school district's previous bond package plan, Windsor Middle School would be remodeled and expanded at its current location on Main Street. Weld RE-4 superintendent Dan Seegmiller said middle school now sits on 13 acres. The ideal amount of land for a middle school is 40 acres, Seegmiller said.

"The only difference is it's going to be built in a different spot," he added. "To put that money into this existing site is not an ideal situation and that's where the pivot comes. It will hasten with helping us with capacity sooner."

With the larger property, Weld RE-4 Chief Operating Officer Jason Seybert said the district can break ground on the middle school in late summer 2022 and open the building in 2024. With the remodel and expansion of the current middle school, the building would've been completed in 2025.

"Overall the package has not changed," Seybert said. "We're still attacking Windsor Middle School, but in a different location."

During the bond proposal process, that included school district leaders and representatives meeting with a variety of community groups, concerns were raised about the public safety issues surrounding a potential expansion and remodel of the middle school.

The building is about 95 years old, and town of Windsor and school district leaders decided to look at other options. Within the last month, the privately owned, larger property became a focus because it would satisfy needs of both the district and town.

"Traffic is a big concern," town of Windsor town manager Shane Hale said of the middle school. "Seventh street is a main arterial for us and there are a lot of traffic issues with the school and there are a lot of students crossing on foot. It's (the middle school) not a great design, and from a taxpayer standpoint, trying to retrofit a 95-year-old building with millions of dollars, there's not as much bang for the buck."

Hale said the town will take the lead on buying the property, and then subdivide it with Weld RE-4 getting 40 acres for the middle school and the town retaining about 100 acres for long-term, future use.

He declined to disclose the exact location of the land, though he added the property owner wants to close this year. Hale added the town hopes to be under contract for the property within the next week.

Hale said the town might use the land for multiple purposes: a park, a new police department or to solve space problems for public works.

"It solves a few issues with the town and gives us a viable place to build a police department," Hale said. "We're out of space (at the current department on 11th street), and we're willing to look at options for that space and we haven't identified a good location."

Sharing the location with the school district will help the town as it develops the area, especially if Windsor goes for a park which would allow the town and the school district to share parking and field use.

"Our recreation programs with the town gets into the schools," Hale said. "We rely on them a lot with field use and the pool. To work with them again, from a maintenance standpoint, it's better to build it once and it's better for taxpayers."