Though it is brief and stated without much detail, an article on the warrant for Tisbury’s special town meeting on Tuesday puts forward a radical idea.

The proposal foresees an energy future for this part of the world in which the people would own the means to produce their own electricity.

All the article seeks is approval to apply for membership in the Cape and Islands Electric Cooperative Inc., and authorization for the selectmen to negotiate terms and conditions.

The meeting will be held next Tuesday, March 25 at 7:30 p.m. in the Tisbury school gymnasium.

Behind the co-op proposal is an idea both old and new: cutting out corporate generators and forming the first power co-operative ever in Massachusetts.

The existence of such co-ops is not so rare, although the formation of a new one is. Many were set up after the Depression as a way of getting power to people whom corporate power generators would not service. Indeed, they provide power across about 70 per cent of the land area of the nation.

There even exists a “bank,” the Rural Utility Service, which provides low-cost finance for power generation projects.

The idea to establish one here grew out of the Cape Light Compact, which was originally formed to negotiate rates with power companies for electricity supplied to the 15 towns on the Cape as well as the six towns on the Vineyard.

But the compact’s function was strictly that of an “aggregator” – empowered only to negotiate retail rates of electricity, not to generate power or to get into wholesale selling of it.

An electric co-operative, however, can function like any other power generating utility. It can own and operate power generation facilities. It can sell electricity at the wholesale level.

So in September 2006, the compact board authorized a $100,000 study into the prospects of forming a cooperative.

“The study identified several tax questions which had to be answered,” compact administrator Margaret Downey said.

But the Internal Revenue Service does not answer hypothetical questions, so the compact had to form a co-operative first.

The compact, the town and county of Barnstable did so. Last December, they sought a ruling from the IRS of whether they would get tax exempt status.

The revenue service needed some more details, but in essence, the answer looked like a yes.

“They gave us favorable rulings on two of four questions, and favorable indications on two others on which they wanted a bit more information,” compact board member Peter Cabana said. “We now expect we will get a favorable tax ruling from the IRS by June, and also a similar favorable tax ruling from the state.”

But if the tax rulings are yet to be given, why include a warrant article, not just on the Tisbury town special warrant, but on those of all the Vineyard towns?

“Because,” Ms. Downey said, “many towns on the Cape and the Island are in the process of pursuing alternative energy projects of their own.

“We want them to be aware that this is now on the table, and that the cooperative approach would be better than a piecemeal approach, and would be a lower-cost option.”

And, if the towns agree in principle, it will be a big first step towards the time when the Island can not only generate its own power, but sell power into the grid. It would also answer a major concern many people hold about other alternative energy proposals, such as Cape Wind, which is that public assets are being given to private developers.

So the warrant article has the potential to be, in the long term, the most far-reaching change proposal on the Tisbury warrant.

It is unlikely, however, to be the most controversial.

Plan: Parking or Playground

That distinction is likely to go to the first warrant article, dealing with the presentation of the new, so-called master plan for the future development of town infrastructure by the planning board.

And the most controversial part of that, judging by responses to date, is the part of the plan which would see a substantial part of the play area at the Tisbury school turned into a parking lot, while a new ambulance and fire department building would be put across the other side of Spring street.

The school and parents are concerned about the plan: not only for the loss of space, but for the potential hazards of having emergency vehicles entering and exiting, sometimes at speed, premises on a street used by large numbers of elementary school students.

One concerned parent, Bernadette Cormie, who lives on Spring street, urged as many parents as possible to turn up to the meeting.

“The plan takes a large part of the area the kids play on every day,” she said. “I think the site for the emergency services could be a great one, if they can redesign it such that so much of the open space does not become parking.”

Apart from the school concerns, other parts of the overall plan, which addresses the relocation of the fire, ambulance, police, town hall, town hall annex and many other facilities, are also likely to be hotly contested over time. But the special town meeting will make no binding decisions on any of it.

Wide Range of Articles

Otherwise, little on the warrant is likely to be contentious, although recalcitrant dog owners could find themselves up for increased penalties if they fail to register their pets. An article provides that for every month past the registration date of March 1 that an owner failed to pay the registration fee, it would increase by $5

One article requires a vote on whether the town will authorize the assessors to exempt from taxation property up to a value of $700,000 belonging to or held for the benefit of veterans’ organizations, in accordance with state law.

Another would elect three members to a fish committee: Charles Conroy, Janet Messineo and Ronald Rose.

There are several financial housekeeping measures relating to bond securities and other matters, including one to authorize the town treasurer to borrow against anticipated revenue for 2009, with the approval of selectmen, and to issue notes payable within a year.

The meeting will seek approval of the new Tashmoo park playground plan, created by the National Playgrounds company.

Two articles seek to make minor amendments to the zoning bylaws. One redefines the term “attached” as it relates to buildings, and a more significant one related to “accessory structures.”

The latter proposal seeks to further guard against such structures being used as de facto habitations, by forbidding them from having any plumbing fixtures.

But the town’s finance and advisory committee, citing a lack of clarity, has not recommended acceptance of either article.

Ferry Fees to Spend

The most detailed article on the warrant would set up a new five-member committee to determine how the town should spend the substantial revenue it gets from the 50-cent embarkation fee it charges on ferry passenger tickets. Total revenue is now around $250,000 a year.

The proposed committee would consist of one selectman, one member of the finance and advisory committee, two members-at-large not serving on any other committee and one member of the harbor management committee.

Members would serve one-year terms, would hold at least one public informational hearing per year on the town’s “needs possibilities and resources” and advise on how to spend the money.

Two other articles would provide easements on public land: one for a septic system on a home adjoining Owen Park, and the other, more significant one, for a communications company installing a new fiber optic network to service the Island.

If approved, Global Protection Communications Systems LLC, would be allowed to build on the public works department site, at High Point Lane. In return for the right to build a switching station on the site, the company has offered lines to install a local area network connecting, as the warrant article puts it, “all occupied municipal facilities and telecommunications services . . . ”

This means all the computers in the town’s departments in various locations, as well as the school and sewer system, could be linked through a network.