The Maine Board of Education has approved a Stroudwater Street property as the site for construction of a new Wescott Junior High School in Westbrook.

The approval is the first of three final steps in getting a new school built on the 65-acre plot off Stroudwater Street the city purchased from Thomas DeWolfe and Elizabeth Faye last April for just under $990,000.

“For us in the project, it was a big step,” said Michael Kucsma, Westbrook schools business manager.

School officials have now begun developing a concept plan that they hope to take back to the state board in late March or early April.

“What the building will look like, how it will sit on the site, is it brick, is it gold,” said Rena Daniel of the Wescott Junior High Building Committee.

If approved, officials are then hoping to hold a public referendum at the end of May, whereby Westbrook residents will vote on whether to build a new school and whether to accept the concept plan.

“And the citizens have the last word,” said Daniel.

The city has been working through an extensive review process, in which all the state’s requirements must be met before the state provides funding. If the city complies fully, the state will refund 100 percent of the costs of constructing a new school, with the exception of any extra construction the city chooses, such as a new auditorium. The cost of a new school is expected to be upwards of $30 million.

Originally, the city and state were expecting to renovate or build a new school on the current Wescott Junior High site, off Bridge Street. Extensive problems with both the school and the site, however, led both parties to look elsewhere.

For weekly updates on the concept plan approval, visit the Westbrook school Web site at www.westbrookschools.org.