Lisle Unit District 202 is seeking permission from DuPage County to construct a $39 million building to replace its two aging elementary schools, Tate Woods and Schiesher.

District officials appeared before the county zoning board of appeals Thursday to present plans for the proposed two-story, 100,000-square-foot school. The project would be built on the former Meadows school site along Westview Lane.

The district needs approval from the county, in part, because it wants to serve up to 750 prekindergarten through fifth-grade

students in the building. The facility also would be larger than the 54-year-old building that’s currently on the property.

Zoning board members will continue their review of the project next month. District 202 officials are hoping to get approval in time to begin construction next summer.

“I could not be more excited,” Superintendent Keith Filipiak said. “I think it’s going to be a point of pride within our community.”

Talk of replacing Tate Woods and Schiesher dates to 2015, when the district held a series of public meetings as part of its Vision 202 community engagement process.

Tate Woods is for prekindergarten and first- and second-grade students; Schiesher has kindergartners and third- though fifth-graders.

Filipiak said both Tate Woods and Schiesher are aging buildings that need expensive renovations.

“The HVAC systems are at end of life,” he said. “The roofs are at end of life. The parking lots are end of life.”

The existing Meadows building was constructed in 1963 and decommissioned as a public school nearly 30 years ago, Filipiak said. The park district used it for about 23 years, and a math-science academy has been renting the building for the past six years.

If DuPage approves plans for the school, the Meadows building will be demolished in May as soon as the math-science academy moves out.

Filipiak said it will take about a year to build the school and the hope is to have it ready for the 2019-20 academic year.

Plans call for it to have 33 classrooms, including some specifically designed for kindergarten and preschool. There also would be STEM rooms, conference rooms and a learning resource center.

“This is 100 percent custom,” Filipiak said.

The district sought input on the design from teachers. “We’re trying to make sure that whatever we do is going to support the education,” Filipiak said.

Because District 202 will be debt-free in 2019, the plan is to borrow roughly $18 million to help pay for the project. The district already has the rest of the money.

If the county approves the plan, school board members will have to decide the fate of Tate Woods and Schiesher.

Filipiak said options include tearing them down, selling them or repairing and leasing them.

“There’s no easy answer,” he said. “But those are going to be the next decisions that we’re going to have to start working on.”