The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education approved a site for a proposed new Kachemak Selo School at its Monday meeting.

Selecting a site will improve the chances of receiving grant funding for the estimated $16-million project, board member Tim Navarre said at the meeting.

With two absent board members, the body approved the site by a 5-2 vote.

 A school site selection committee designated two sites for evaluation, which considered land use, construction cost, maintenance and operation factors.

In memo to the board from the selection committee, the recommended site shows advantages in construction costs and proximity to students, but shows modest advantages to the alternative site in land use and maintenance and operation costs.

Three residential-type buildings currently make up the kindergarten through twelfth-grade school. According to the district’s Kachemak Selo School Educational Specification document, the buildings are in poor conditions, have health and safety compliancy issues, maintenance and structural issues and poor energy efficiency.

In 2014, Kachemak Selo had a student enrollment of 61. The $16-million cost is based on the largest building size estimation at 18,599-square feet.