With a vote tonight, the Yorkville School District 115 could be one step closer to building a new school on a 106-acre property west of the current high school campus, north of River Road.

The school district is requesting the city of Yorkville annex and rezone the property to enable construction of the new school building. A full plan for the site will not be submitted to the city until after the outcome of the vote on the school district’s $275 million referendum in the March 17 primary election.

The City Council meeting is at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 651 Prairie Pointe Drive.

A public hearing was previously held during the planning and zoning commission meeting on Jan. 14. The committee moved forward the plans with a unanimous approval recommendation vote.

During a previous City Council meeting, some residents voiced concerns about the plans encroaching on the area near River Road, the amount of access points and roads given the influx of new traffic, and the impact on stormwater drainage on the surrounding properties.

During the meeting, Heather DiVerde, the school district’s executive director of facility operations, said the district foresees minimum impact along River Road.

She said the district has no plans to put a road through the property from the north end to the south end near River Road. DiVerde said the road that the district will be putting through will be coming from U.S. Route 34 on Beecher Road.

DiVerde said the school district is having meetings with the Rush Copley Healthcare Center, located just off Route 34 and Beecher Road, on potentially using some of its land for a second route out of the property.

While there have been some preliminary discussions of a possible new Bristol Kendall Fire Protection District fire station on the school’s site, there are no details yet about how vehicles would get in or where the new station would be located.

The school district purchased the 106-acre farmland property from the Conover family last summer for around $2 million. The property is a quarter-mile west of the high school.

The property is likely to be the site of a new middle school or an elementary school, both of which are included in the plan outlined in the referendum to build new facilities to accommodate the community’s booming population.

The school district is also looking to rezone a 45-acre property adjacent to the high school.

If the referendum is approved by voters in March, residents will get the chance to participate in public hearings regarding any final building plans that will come back before City Council for final approval.