Despite opposition to the location and the high cost of the project, the Concord School Board is hoping to rally the community around the need for a new middle school as it moves forward.

The board’s decision at the end of last year to build anew on raw land near the Broken Ground and Mill Brook schools went against the wishes of most of the people who attended a meeting held at the Concord High auditorium.

A cost projection of $176 million for the new school was laid out ahead of the meeting but drew questions about what exactly was — and wasn’t — included in that figure. Citing a $130 million Nashua project to build a new middle school and renovate two other schools, community members in Concord argued the price needed to be lower.

As the project now proceeds into its design phase, the board is set to establish a building committee at its meeting Monday night that will join school district and public voices to guide the project forward.

“I hope we can bring in people who were on all sides of the location debate and work on the next phase of the project,” School Board President Pam Walsh said.

The building committee would combine members of the board’s capital facilities and finance committee with the middle school principal, representatives from the superintendent’s office, city hall and members of the public with “relevant experience.” Six working groups will tackle plans for site design, sustainability, traffic and transportation, school programming, transition to the new school and, eventually, the future of the current Rundlett Middle School on South Street.

Board members have emphasized that the $176 million estimate was drawn up from a visioning process — and while some have clearly stated they want to see it drop, it could go up or down depending on the final design. The committee will be the vehicle of that refining process.

“With each (design) phase, you drill down a little bit more,” Walsh said, starting with major cost items like whether to have and how big to make an auditorium and energy sourcing decisions and eventually getting down into the “nitty gritty” of design, like choosing the floor tiles. The public, by applying to be committee members or by giving input along the way, will have “ample opportunity” to shape — and disagree about — those plans, Walsh said.

Even amid the heated conversation about the site, people shared resolve that a new school is needed, Walsh said.

Superintendent Kathleen Murphy expressed a desire to proceed on common ground.

“We recognize disappointment” that the middle school will not be rebuilt on South Street, she said. But she is optimistic that there are people passionate about the project, even if not about the location, who will still be ready partners in its next steps.

Not on the agenda is any rehashing of the location decision.

“Having that debate over again would mean that we may not be in a place where we, if we received building aid, could use it,” Walsh said.

To be ready for the approximately $48 million in aid it could receive come July 2025, the project’s timeline calls for final designs to be ready by the end of September.