SOUTH PORTLAND – Cost estimates for the $47 million renovation plan for South Portland High School are correct, and the size and scope of the project is in line with school construction recently approved in other parts of the state, two consultants told the City Council Monday night.

“We believe that the budget developed by the South Portland School Board and its consultants is reasonable. At this time, we do not believe it is prudent to alter the overall cost estimate from that which has been established by the board,” Tom Frederick, vice president of Wright-Ryan Construction, one of the two consulting firms, wrote in a report to the city which he presented to the City Council on Aug. 16.

Many residents have been vocal about how much the city and its taxpayers would be able to afford to renovate the high school, calling the $47 million project far too expensive and wondering whether a 285,000-square-foot school is more than the district needs. Any reduction to the project’s overall cost, the consultants state, would mean substantially paring down the scope of the project.

At a June 28 workshop, the City Council and the school board decided to initiate a peer review of the proposal by Harriman & Associates and hired both HKTA/architects and Wright-Ryan.

City Manager Jim Gailey said the two firms were asked to look at five scopes: the projected $47 million cost, the project’s constructability and timetable, whether or not the project would meet state standards, the size of the project compared to other schools, and if the design and scope of the project made sense.

Frederick said in the report that the project’s construction/renovation, based on his estimates, would be just over $38.6 million. Harriman’s cost for the construction work is roughly $39.6 million. The additional costs of the project, dubbed the soft costs, factor in elements that are not part of the building’s construction, such as school department moving costs, temporary classroom units, asbestos abatement, advertising/insurance/legal costs, movable equipment, and fees associated with architects, environmental permitting and surveys and studies.

Frederick said South Portland’s project is in line with the size and scope of other recent school projects in the state.

“What we have seen with the plans for this project is not inconsistent with some of the other [school] plans we are now seeing,” said Frederick, whose firm has been involved with many school design projects throughout the state,?including at the Westbrook Regional Vocational School, Cony High School, Bath Middle School, projects in Freeport and Brunswick and work for both the Maine College of Art and the University of Southern Maine.

According to comparisons provided by Harriman & Associates earlier this month, South Portland’s project compares favorably with other school projects, either recently completed or currently in the works.

It is substantially less than the Mount Blue High School project, which is projected to cost $68 million and the Hampden Academy project, which is projected to cost $57 million. The project is similar to the 2008 Mount View High School project, which in 2011 dollars would cost between $46.8 and $49.9 million.

In terms of dollars spent per student, South Portland’s project would compare favorably with the Mount View project and Cony High School’s 2004 project if they were constructed today, the firm said. South Portland’s project proposes spending $42,900 per student. Cony’s would be between $40,600 and $46,400 and Mount View’s between $42,500 and $45,000.

Biddeford, with its $34.9 million school plan, projects spending $34,900 per student.

Both Frederick and Howe said there are ways to cut down the project’s cost, but the only way to do that would be to cut into the square footage of the project, which is largely dictated by the district’s academic program.

“The biggest savings would be if you started compressing the building,” Frederick said. “At this stage to take millions out of the cost of the project, you are going to need to take substantial square footage out.”

City Councilor Rosemarie DeAngelis, a longtime educator and former teacher at the school, said reducing the price is not a matter of cutting into the academic programming, but rather constructing a school that meets the needs, not the wants or desires.

“Reducing the scope of the project does not mean eliminating programs. It means we need to shift our thinking on how we deliver those programs,” she said, adding, “The building needs improvements, but does it need $47 million worth in improvements?”

Howe said the proposed cost of the project and its complexity is due, in part, to the site, which, despite being centrally located in the city, has a number of issues, posing challenges to project design and implementation.

“The site has its challenges,” he said. “You could probably better control those challenges at another site.”

Gailey said the Secondary School Review Committee did an analysis of eight sites for the high school, including its present one and found the current location was most favorable.

Doing the work on the existing site, Frederick said makes the project even more because of the need to renovate and construct while school is in session and students and staff are still occupying the building, causing the need to move students and staff during construction phases.

“There is nothing harder than occupied renovations. It is hard on everyone involved, including students and staff,” he said.

All in all, Howe stated in the report, the current proposal is a good solution.

“The concept scheme, as presented, does a good job of balancing all those constraints and limitations of the site while developing a very comprehensive and responsive plan to the demands of the educational program,” Howe stated in his report to the city.

Howe did, however, recommend the city revisits hallway circulation on all three floors, room utilization to make sure each room is used efficiently, space allocation in the cafeteria, which he feels may be too large, as well as the expansive space allotted to the entry way at the school’s main entrance, the chorus room and a undesignated 6,000 square foot room in the basement. Howe also recommends hiring a construction manager, rather than a general contractor to oversee the work. A construction manager, he said, is more involved in the planning and design process and capable of handling more complex construction processes.

All in all, Howe said, Harriman’s plan is well done.

“In a nutshell I think it is a good plan, well organized,” he said. “I think they have designed a plan that meets educational needs.”

The City Council was expected to hold a special workshop on Aug. 18 to address the reports with members of the school board.

If the council were to send the project out to referendum in November, Gailey said, the deadline for second reading and passage would be Sept. 8 since Sept. 9 is the deadline for the ballot getting to the printers. A special meeting would be called between now and then for first reading.

If it were to go out to referendum in November and was approved, the city would award a contract to the successful bidder in December 2011, with the first phase of the project beginning in March 2012. The second phase of the project would begin in January 2014. The entire project is anticipated to take 36 months and be done in April 2015.

Howe said doing the necessary work in that 36-month window, especially with a chunk of the work being done with school is in session, is doable but will require “excellent timing, patience and understanding.”