The future home of Tisbury’s consolidated municipal offices will be built at 66 High Point Lane, following a vote by the town select board Tuesday afternoon.

Tisbury has for decades wanted to centralize its town offices under a single roof,  but has contended with a lack of space, mold, and rodents in its current disparate buildings, leading to safety concerns.

A feasibility study by Icon Architecture from earlier this year found that Tisbury needs just over 15,000 square feet of interior space for its combined offices and nearly 9,000 square feet for a new police station.

Tisbury's town offices are spread out over several locations.

Ray Ewing

Tisbury's town offices are spread out over several locations.

Ray Ewing

“When you look at parking, zoning requirements, exterior storage [and] programmable space, we came to a conclusion very early on that a minimum of an acre would be needed for either a town hall and police department building or for a town hall project only,” Icon principal Mark McKevitz said at the Oct. 7 select board meeting.

The select board voted 2-0 in favor of the High Point Lane site Tuesday with little discussion; select board member Christina Colarusso was absent. 

Vice chair Roy Cutrer asked Mr. McKevitz about the cost implications if the town were to build the municipal office building first and the replacement police station in a future year.

“If we did it in two phases … is there any way to know what the cost difference on something like that would be?” Mr Cutrer asked.

“The [cost] escalation for construction projects is 6 per cent per year right now,” Mr. McKevitz said.

The town’s consultant looked at more than 80 town-owned properties before selecting two finalists, the High Point Lane site — currently home to the town hall annex, housed in two aging modular buildings near the VTA park and ride  — and a one-acre lot at 55 West William street, Mr. McKevitz said.

The High Point Lane site won out Tuesday in part because it’s large enough to accommodate the police department as well as other town offices.

The police station, complete with a separate entrance, secure sally port and storage for SWAT equipment, could occupy its own building or a separate wing of the town hall, Mr. McKevitz told the select board Tuesday.

The West William street location was where the school had its modular buildings.

Ray Ewing

The West William street location was where the school had its modular buildings.

Ray Ewing

Tisbury currently conducts municipal business at sites including the town hall, beneath Katharine Cornell Theatre on Spring street; the public works, planning, building and health departments at the annex on High Point Lane; the police station downtown and the emergency services facility on Spring street, completed in 2012.

The next step in the consolidated town hall project will involve a new contract with Icon to develop conceptual designs for the High Point Lane site. Those designs would give voters a better understanding of the potential cost for the building project. 

Tisbury voters last December approved $600,000, from the town’s capital and infrastructure stabilization funds, for town hall architectural services.

Icon’s work on the feasibility study, which cost $69,450, was funded by money that was previously approved by voters for the town hall project.

The town purchased 55 West William street in 2019 and demolished an existing house there in 2022, with the intention of consolidating municipal offices on the site. 

The property, which was used most recently for construction trailers during the Tisbury School project, would have been able to accommodate the town offices but not the police station as well.