Plymouth targets 2028 Town Meeting vote, fall 2031 opening for Hedge Elementary building project
The state building authority will fund only one building project, the committee was told, either Hedge alone or a consolidation with Cold Spring, and the study has not settled which. No new cost figure was given; the state building authority's records put the estimated construction cost at $120 million to $160 million.
PLYMOUTH Plymouth's Hedge Elementary building project, which could bring a new or renovated North Plymouth school and could fold in Cold Spring Elementary, is aiming to open in the fall of 2031, the town's School Building Committee heard Thursday night.
The project's designer, Ai3 Architects, showed a schedule that puts a Town Meeting vote in November 2028 and a debt exclusion vote in November or December 2028, and the slide marks both as proposed dates. Under state law, a debt exclusion is a ballot question that, if a majority of voters approve it, lets a town raise property taxes above the Proposition 2 1/2 limit to pay the principal and interest on borrowing for a project. The owner's project manager, CHA Consulting, showed its own preliminary schedule, dated Oct. 30 and prepared for the Massachusetts School Building Authority, which shows the project complete Aug. 29, 2031.
"Once we get into construction, the aim is to be able to open up in the fall of the year, not the middle of the year," said David Peck, who chairs the Town Building Committee and the combined committee. "So that's five years out." The target, he said, is "the fall of '31 right now."
Hedge had 188 students and Cold Spring 199 last school year, kindergarten through grade 5, according to the state education department. The schedule sets when Plymouth voters would be asked to pay the town's share of the project. Thursday was the first meeting of the combined committee, the School Building Committee joined with the Town Building Committee, and the next deadline on both schedules is the preliminary design program due to the state in March 2027.
The schedules shown Thursday
| Step | Ai3 Architects slide | CHA Consulting schedule, Oct. 30 |
|---|---|---|
| Preliminary design program sent to the state | March 24, 2027 | March 10, 2027 |
| Preferred schematic report | Oct. 14, 2027 | State board approval Oct. 27, 2027 |
| Schematic design | June 1, 2028 | State board approval of scope and budget July 25, 2028 |
| Local vote | Town Meeting November 2028; debt exclusion vote November or December 2028 | District vote certified to the state by Oct. 9, 2028 |
| State funding agreement | Funding the project, 2028 | Oct. 19, 2028 |
| Construction | 2029 to 2030 | Bids due Jan. 10, 2030; notice to proceed Jan. 17, 2030 |
| Finish | Completing the project, 2030 to 2031 | Building substantially complete March 14, 2031; project complete Aug. 29, 2031 |
The study the project is in now ends with two submissions to the state, an Ai3 Architects presenter said: the preliminary design program at the end of March 2027 and the preferred schematic report, "targeted for the middle of October in 2027." One option then moves into schematic design, with that submission targeted for June 2028, and the debt exclusion vote, final documents and construction come after that, the presenter said.
One person at the meeting asked for a single schedule, since the two firms' dates do not match. "They're all off by, like, maybe a couple weeks," she said, adding that she wanted to make sure "we don't miss a deadline there." The gap is wider on the local vote: the designer's slide puts Town Meeting in November 2028, while CHA's schedule has the district vote certified to the state by Oct. 9, 2028. Another person asked that Town Meeting approval be listed on CHA's page of key milestones, which shows the district vote, and a member of the project team said the page could be updated to show it.
One building, with or without Cold Spring
The study is meant to leave "no stone unturned," the Ai3 presenter told the committee, listing additions and renovations, new construction and phased repairs among the options. "We're looking at consolidation, no consolidation, we're looking at all these different nuances and options," the presenter said. The district named Hedge, built in 1910, as its priority in its 2024 statement of interest to the state and marked it as a potential consolidation with Cold Spring, built in 1951. A slide from Ai3's 2023 study of all eight of the district's elementary schools mapped viable alternate sites as well as the two current ones.
The state will put money toward only one building, the committee was told. "This project, the MSBA is only going to fund a single building project," one speaker said. Because the project the state accepted is Hedge, the speaker added, it will be Hedge alone or "a consolidation of some sort."
School Committee member Ashley Shaw, who took her seat on the Town Building Committee that night, asked whether combining the two schools was off the table. She urged the team to make clear at every community meeting "that we don't know yet whether it's going to be one building, two buildings, or a combined building," and to tell Hedge and Cold Spring families early "that there is a chance that those schools will be combined." Getting that word out early would help "should this come to Town Meeting," she said, because "town meeting members very much dislike things that are up in the air." "I think people will be very resentful if they feel like it's like a bait-and-switch style thing," Shaw said.
Community meetings will run through the whole study and "are going to start popping up as early as the middle of December," a member of the project team said. The firms described listening sessions, events for families and students, and a large vinyl map of each site that residents walk on and mark with sticky notes about traffic and other concerns, an exercise planned for both the Hedge and Cold Spring sites.
What it could cost
No cost estimate for the project was presented Thursday. At the end of schematic design, the Ai3 presenter said, the town will have "a single project, with a budget, with a site, with a building size." The state authority's record of its designer selection lists an estimated construction cost of $120 million to $160 million, and the district's project page lists the authority's maximum reimbursement rate at 53.32%, with the total budget and the state grant still to be determined.
Spring Town Meeting voted 145-1 on April 5, 2025, to borrow $2 million for the feasibility study now underway, according to the town's record of motions as voted, with any cost above the state grant falling to Plymouth.
Another person at the table asked that Town Meeting members be shown where Plymouth stands on paying off the debt for its two high schools and a middle school, since the town would be "investing a lot of money in whatever project this is," he said. Peck said the town's finance director shares Plymouth's 10-year capital plan with the building committee.
Other school projects before the committee
District facilities staff also briefed the Town Building Committee on two other school jobs. The rear parking lot at Nathaniel Morton Elementary, being rebuilt with money from Park Plymouth, could go out to bid at the end of January or early February, with new drainage, asphalt and about 16 to 18 solar lights, staff said. The playground that sat in the lot has already moved to its own fenced area, and the light fixture still needs the town's historic review, now planned for December. Staff put the savings from the solar lights at $15,000 to $20,000 a year, which would show up in the school budget and, members and staff agreed later in the meeting, ease the town's budget as a whole. Staff put Park Plymouth's investment at about $1.4 million, with no town money involved.
Staff also described a 20-year performance-based energy contract that the state Department of Energy Resources has approved, with work able to start once the contract is ratified. It covers new rooftop heating and cooling units at South Elementary School, a $4.5 million job, and a roof restoration at South Middle School, done by rolling a new coating over the existing roof. "The beauty of this performance-based contract is the number is set," a staff member said. "So the cost to the town is already set." The rooftop work could start in the spring, with some interior work sooner, and the roof job is planned for summer.
What happens next
The combined committee's next meeting moves to Thursday, Dec. 17, at 6 p.m., a week after the Dec. 10 date on the agenda, because Peck and two other Town Building Committee members have a potential conflict on the 10th, he said. The project team suggested the committee form working groups, such as finance and school operations, to keep decisions moving between monthly meetings, and the firms said they would share a schedule of committee and working group meetings for the next six months.
Minutes will be shared once the building committee approves them, the town's Procurement Division said Friday. Plymouth Public Schools posts project documents on its Hedge Building Project page at plymouth.k12.ma.us. The central office is at 11 Lincoln St. and can be reached at 508-830-4300, and Christopher Campbell is superintendent of schools.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
Notes
Every fact comes from the Town of Plymouth's Zoom recording of the Nov. 12 meeting, which we watched and transcribed; the presentation Plymouth Public Schools sent us; CHA Consulting's Oct. 30 preliminary schedule as shown on screen in the recording; the Nov. 12 agenda; the Massachusetts School Building Authority's designer selection chart and October project report; the district's Hedge Building Project page, 2024 statements of interest and School Committee page; the town's record of the April 5, 2025, Town Meeting vote; and the state education department's 2025-26 enrollment and Plymouth district profile. The debt exclusion definition comes from the state's Proposition 2 1/2 law. We read them on Nov. 12 and 13, 2026. Quotes are word for word from the recording, checked against three transcripts. Speakers the recording does not identify by name are described by their role. We checked each date and weekday against a calendar.
Corrections
No corrections to this story. If something here is wrong, tell us. Every correction is dated on the story and listed in our public log.
Sources (14)
- Town of Plymouth, Zoom cloud recording, "Building Committee Meeting," Nov. 12, 2026, 5:59 p.m., 2 hours 13 minutes (video, audio and Zoom transcript)The School Building Committee portion runs from the start to about 44 minutes; the Town Building Committee follows. Sent to South Coast 360 by the town's Procurement Division Nov. 13, 2026, with minutes to follow once the committee approves them. Watched and transcribed Nov. 13, 2026.
- Plymouth Public Schools and Ai3 Architects, "Hedge Elementary School Project, November 12, 2026," School Building Committee and Building Committee presentation, 22 pages (Mtg #1 11/12/26)Emailed to South Coast 360 by Plymouth Public Schools Nov. 13, 2026. Slide 18, The MSBA Process Flowchart (proposed dates); slide 4, the 2023 existing conditions study map. Read Nov. 13, 2026.
- CHA Consulting, "Plymouth Hedge Elementary School Preliminary Schedule," dated Oct. 30, 2026, prepared for the MSBA, page 4, Key Milestones and Approval GatesShown on screen during the Nov. 12 meeting (recording about 28 to 43 minutes); read from the recording Nov. 13, 2026.
- Town of Plymouth School Building Committee and Town Building Committee meeting agenda, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, 6 p.m.Two pages, posted on the town Agenda Center. Next meeting listed Dec. 10, with a change to Dec. 17 to be discussed; Nathaniel Morton school parking lot item. Read Nov. 12, 2026.
- Massachusetts School Building Authority, Designer Selection Panel meeting results chart, November 3, 2026Plymouth, Hedge Elementary School: estimated construction cost $120 million to $160 million; Ai3 Architects LLC ranked first. Read Nov. 12, 2026.
- Massachusetts School Building Authority, Project Overview Report, October 2026 BoardHedge Elementary in the feasibility study phase, owner's project manager CHA Consulting Inc. Read Nov. 12, 2026.
- Plymouth Public Schools, Hedge Building Project pageBy the Numbers: MSBA maximum reimbursement rate 53.32%; total project budget and maximum grant to be determined. Read Nov. 12, 2026.
- Plymouth Public Schools, 2024 Statement of Interest, Hedge ElementaryDistrict priority, potential consolidation, built 1910. Read Nov. 12, 2026.
- Plymouth Public Schools, 2024 Statement of Interest, Cold Spring ElementaryBuilt 1951. Read Nov. 12, 2026.
- April 5, 2025 Spring Annual Town Meeting, motions as votedArticle 5: $2,000,000 feasibility study for Hedge and Cold Spring, carried 145-1-0; costs above the state grant fall to the town. Read Nov. 12, 2026.
- Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 59, Section 21C (Proposition 2 1/2), paragraph (k)Debt exclusion: with a two-thirds vote of the local appropriating authority, voters may approve taxes above the levy limit to pay principal and interest on borrowing; a question passes with a majority voting yes. Read Nov. 13, 2026.
- Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Plymouth enrollment by grade, 2025-26Hedge 188 and Cold Spring 199, kindergarten to grade 5. Read Nov. 12, 2026.
- Plymouth Public Schools, School Committee pageAshley Shaw, member, 2024 to present. Read Nov. 13, 2026.
- Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Plymouth district profileCentral office address and phone, superintendent. Read Nov. 12, 2026.