The $15 million Edgartown library expansion project will go back to the drawing board, town selectmen and library trustees agreed this week.

Following the revelation last week that the cost of the project had spiked by another $1.4 million, in separate meetings on Monday selectmen and library trustees decided to replace a planned $4 million town meeting article with a $300,000 spending article.

The article is intended to relaunch the library expansion plan with new architectural and engineering work and also a new state grant application. A new building committee will be appointed to help steer the project.

“I think emotionally we felt like we wanted to go forward with it. I did,” said library trustee and board chairman Patricia Rose.

At their meeting Monday afternoon, the town selectmen agreed that it would be best to start over with the project and move as quickly as possible to complete an application for the next round of state grant funding to meet a January 2011 deadline.

“Raising an article by almost $1.5 million is a little out of scope,” said town administrator Pam Dolby.

At the library trustees’ meeting Monday evening, library director Felicia Cheney said she had worked with Ms. Dolby on the new article. The $300,000 is intended to cover architectural and engineering expenses for redesigning the plan and applying for the next round of state grants.

By starting over, the town will now have to abandon a $4.6 million grant that had already been approved by the Massachusetts Library Commission, because it will not be able to meet a June 15 deadline for raising matching funds.

The other downside is that the town will not be able to count the $3.5 million purchase of the Captain Warren House property, located next to the library building on North Water street, as a match for future grant funding. “It is a step backwards, for sure, but I think to have the cooperation of the town and all their leaders is going to make a monumental difference,” said Ms. Cheney.

The project began five years ago when town voters agreed to buy the Warren House, intending to connect it to the existing library building as part of the expansion plan. Structural studies later determined that the Warren house would have to be torn down.

Eventually a renovation and expansion plan was developed with a total price tag of $15 million. The state grant would have covered $4.6 million; a foundation was formed to raise private money to help pay for the rest. But fund-raising efforts came up short, and with a little more than $1 million in hand from private donations, trustees had planned to ask town voters in April to cover the gap of $4 million.

Until last week, when trustees learned that the project was going to cost another $1.4 million. After a meeting with the town finance committee, it was agreed that it would be best to embark on a new plan and wait for future grant funding to become available.

This week when the dust had settled a bit, Rob Hughes, an Edgartown homeowner and chairman of the library foundation capital campaign, said he remains optimistic that the plan can be salvaged — and that more private money can be raised.

“The glass is really, at the very least, half full,” Mr. Hughes said. “The awareness level of the need for a refurbished, refreshed library has risen dramatically . . . There is a real interest in seeing something done that’s appropriate and of the caliber that this community needs.” He continued:

“The Edgartown Library foundation will continue in its mission to raise funds and broad public support for our library,” he said. “There’s no reason why we can’t have the same turnout and a better financial outcome.”

He said the new plan should focus first on programs at the library, creating an environment that benefits all members of the community. “Let’s create a venue that brings these people together,” he said.

Meanwhile, fund-raising efforts for the expansion project will continue, including a series of social events planned this winter, both on and off the Island.

A wine and cheese tasting event was held last Friday at Lattanzi’s restaurant in Edgartown. Other events are planned in Boston, New York, and Vero Beach, Fla.