Two locations identified for new Tisbury town hall

Tisbury is narrowing in on a location for a consolidated town hall, and is looking to hear feedback from residents.

The project designer with a Boston-based firm tapped to find an appropriate site pinpointed 55 West William St. and 66 High Point Lane — where the town hall annex is located — as the two best options among town-owned properties. 

The High Point Lane option would include a new police station as well. The proposed two-story town hall would be 15,100 square feet, and would include an 8,900-square-foot police station. 

Currently, the bulk of town departments are split between facilities on High Point Lane and 51 Spring St. But there have been complaints that having multiple locations can make business difficult for town employees, and there have been complaints in the past about conditions at the current facilities, including mold. Tisbury also wants to build a more accessible and code-compliant facility.

Mark McKevitz from Icon Architecture presented findings of their work to find a location at Tuesday’s Tisbury Select Board meeting. McKevitz highlighted that the larger High Point Lane property, a little over three acres, has more room for future expansion and allows for “two functions to work independently” — namely the town hall and the police station. He said that the location would need more site work, because it’s on a “significant slope,” and that staff would need to be relocated while construction took place. Another detraction for the site, he noted, is that it is farther from the town’s center. 

Meanwhile, the West William St. property, which is just over an acre, could be built like a municipal campus that matches the setback and massing of the neighborhood, and it would have space for meetings and outdoor events. McKevitz said the property is also on a slope, and the visitor parking would be “closer together than … the civil engineers would like.” Since there were a house and garage on the property previously, there’s “potential for subsurface contamination that would need to be remediated,” he said. 

A website on the town hall project is under development, and expected to be up soon. The town will be holding a public feedback period from Oct. 10 to 20. Questions and comments regarding the prospective project sites can be sent to officeofthetownadministrator@tisburyma.gov. The board plans to vote on which site to pursue on Oct. 28. 

Roy Cutrer, select board member, called 55 West William St. a “perfect spot” for municipal housing, and said he leaned toward the High Point Lane location. “I’m trying to keep an open mind,” he said.

John Cahill, select board member, asked for the value of the current downtown Tisbury Police station, if the town were to potentially sell it. Rick Homans, who chaired the town hall selection task force, said he’ll look into it for the next time the board meets. 

Jon Snyder, Tisbury town treasurer, said costs would be determined in the following phases, but would depend on the size of the project, meaning the option with a new police station would be more expensive.