The proponents of a new emergency services building for Tisbury have decided to drop one article from the warrant for tonight’s special town meeting, hoping it will increase the chances of acceptance of the rest of the plan.

The meeting, which starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Tisbury School gymnasium, will first seek approval for a new site for the emergency services, and second to borrow up to $640,000 for design work.

If the requests are approved, it will pave the way for the long-anticipated move of the fire brigade and emergency services from their current cramped location in town to land now occupied by the town hall annex, on Spring street opposite the elementary school.

The other related agenda item, article 11, which now will not proceed, sought support for the removal of those town departments now located in the annex to a new building to be constructed near the department of public works (DPW) on High Point Lane.

The decision to drop the article was based on a couple of factors. First, selectmen at their meeting last week requested it, on the basis that more time should be allowed for the exploration of other options to relocate the annex departments.

Second, members of the planning board and emergency services committee were concerned not to try to foist too much change — and inevitable cost — on voters at one time.

All the proposed moves spring from a report on Tisbury’s infrastructure needs, released earlier this year by the town planning board. Yesterday the chairman of the planning board, L. Anthony Peak, said he still planned to introduce the article, “and then explain why we’re not going to go ahead with it.

“And that is that a final decision on what exactly will happen with [those now occupying] the annex has not been made.”

He said other options include renting space to house those departments which have to move out of the current annex, buying and later reselling a building or finding some way to negotiate a swap, whereby they would move to the premises now occupied by the fire department.

He said he still believed a move to the High Point Lane site was the most logical solution, but that there was reason for further discussion, not least because all the alternatives had not been thoroughly examined.

For example, he said, renting space would become less fiscally attractive depending on how long the rental period ran, and that was not established. Even in the case of a move to High Point Lane, the costs would vary greatly depending on the kind construction necessary.

As originally proposed, article 11 sketched a design cost of $60,000, but it was an estimate based on the premise that design represented eight or ten per cent of the total construction cost.

“Even if it happens that we decide to deal with the annex functions by building at the DPW, the actual cost would probably be lower,” Mr. Peak said.

Plus, he said, the meeting already was seeking approval for spending a very large amount of money — $640,000 for planning the new emergency management services site and another $700,000 to site a new waste disposal facility.

“Given the general concerns about the fire station money, the money for land for the refuse district, talk about spending more money at the DPW site might not have been helpful, especially given the overall financial situation at the moment is making people pretty skittish about spending,” Mr. Peak said.

But even with article 11 out of the picture, the meeting faces some big, long-deferred decisions.

Finding a new place to house the town’s fire, ambulance and emergency management functions has been on the agenda for at least five years. The current fire and ambulance sites are manifestly inadequate, incapable of even fitting new vehicles.

Various options have been tested. Last year town voters rejected a proposal to spend $1.65 million to acquire new land. Instead, town officials were sent away to come up with a comprehensive plan, which the planning committee now has done.

The waste disposal issue also has a long history. All the Island towns except Tisbury and Oak Bluffs are part of one waste district. The plan is for them to join in a single, Islandwide district, with the purchase of 11 acres of land adjacent to the current central facility operated by the other towns.

The land cost is $1.4 million, which would be split between the two towns. But the details of the deal are complex, involving a three-year lease of the land at a cost of some $100,000 per year, with the lease payments applied against the purchase price after that time.

The deal would involve Tisbury and Oak Bluffs joining the other four Island towns in a single waste district, and acquiring land adjacent to the current waste district site in Edgartown for some $1.4 million.

The cost would be split between the two towns and involve a three-year lease of the land at a cost of some $100,000 per year, with the towns having an option to purchase at any point during that time, with lease payments applied against the purchase price.

The towns already hold about $400,000 in a joint fund.

If both towns agree to the plan, the cost will be about $700,000 per town. But if Oak Bluffs rejects the idea, Tisbury could be up for greater expense, and might need to borrow up to $1.2 million.

Most other matters on the warrant are simple housekeeping issues.

But one is more significant and relates to the acquisition of an easement, which would give the town control of land for two of the three legs for a new connector road, which ultimately could relieve pressure at one of the Island’s worst traffic bottlenecks — the State and Edgartown Road intersection.

The deal involves a land swap of about 5,000 square feet to obtain a 30-foot easement at the Holmes Hole Road end of the project.

Among other warrant items, the library wants to add a library trustee to the town cabinet, which would increase cabinet numbers from nine to 10, and a group of voters has petitioned to have the time of town meeting changed from 7:30 to 7 p.m.