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This fall, voters in the Somers-Lakeside School District will decide whether to authorize a $15.8 million bond to fund sweeping renovations at the aging Somers Middle School.

The school board unanimously approved the bond proposal during its monthly meeting Monday evening. Mail-in ballots will go out to the district’s registered voters on Oct. 6 and will be due back by Oct. 24. The school district currently contains 4,639 registered voters.

If approved, the general-obligation bond would fund the design and construction of a new gym, fitness area, stage, science lab, shop, music/band and practice rooms, storage, kitchen, commons and classrooms along with remodeling the library and art room while designating space for a flexible, multi-purpose room.

The school was first constructed in 1953, with additions built in the ‘60s and ‘90s to accommodate growing enrollment. About 180 students currently attend the middle school, which is near capacity. The new renovations would expand the building to house about 270 students.

The decision to ask voters for a bond follows the board’s decision in May 2016 to reject a proposal that would have sent the district’s sixth- through eighth-graders to a new middle school in Kalispell that was being proposed at the time. Plans for the new school have since been shelved.

The decision to keep Somers Middle School open was in part a response to a survey of district residents conducted earlier in May 2016, in which 71 percent of respondents opposed an interlocal agreement to send students to the proposed middle school in Kalispell.

Of the 229 respondents to the survey, 87 percent said they would support a bond if the interlocal agreement fell through.

At the end of the board’s Monday meeting, Somers-Lakeside School District’s new Superintendent, Joe Price, said in an interview that plans for the renovations would provide a community space for local events while potentially offering additional class space for students at the Lakeside Elementary, which is already struggling with overcrowding.

Price noted that the teachers’ lounge at the elementary school is currently being remodeled to provide additional classroom space.

In an email, he added that the middle school is nearly full, and certain areas are already over capacity.

“For example, we need to do lunch in three shifts because of the small size of the cafeteria,” Price said. “Our shop classes must be limited to 12 students because there just isn’t enough space — meaning we turn away students who would like to take this class.”

The October bond vote will be the first for the district’s voters in the last 10 years. In 2007, they rejected a proposed $7.1 million general-obligation bond to pay for a new building on the middle school campus and improvements to the existing building.

In May 2015, voters approved a tax levy that provides $185,000 per year to tackle deferred maintenance at the elementary and middle schools.

The current bond proposal was developed over the past year by a task force that included school officials and members of the community.

Price said the district’s request of $15.8 million won’t cover everything on the school’s wish list, but he believes there is enough community support for it to win approval in October. Owners of homes with taxable values of $200,000 could anticipate an annual tax increase of $160.

“A lot of it has to do with the tax impact,” Price said. “If we’re going to go out for this, we need to get it right the first time.”

Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.