While other towns are scrambling to make ends meet, West Tisbury continues pushing ahead with capital project plans to upgrade its town buildings. The latest is an effort to replace the tiny police station headquarters on Mill Pond. After reviewing a number of possible sites, the West Tisbury police station siting committee has recommended the town locate the new station on the town property in North Tisbury that houses the town public safety building, including a fire station. The combination of police, fire and emergency services in one location figured largely in the committee’s recommendation.

On Tuesday night, after weeks of visiting police stations both on and off-Island, reviewing a number of town-owned properties and projecting the needs of the West Tisbury community 20 years into the future, the committee presented its site selection to the public. But first the committee illustrated the inadequacies of the current station.

“Our beloved police station is 130 years old,” said siting committee member Norman Perry. “It has seriously inadequate space. It is not in compliance with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, it’s not in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, it’s not in compliance with building codes and it’s not in compliance with federal or state laws.”

The 800-square-foot building began its life as a school and for a time was the town hall for West Tisbury. The Oak Bluffs police station, by comparison, is 8,842 square feet; Edgartown is 7,600 square feet and Chilmark is 2,444 square feet. The committee visited a station in Harwich that is 20,000 square feet; Nantucket is currently building a $15.5 million, 36,871 square-foot facility. The West Tisbury year-round population is projected to grow from 2,661 to 2,927 in the next 20 years.

“[The current station] no longer meets the operational and safety needs of the police department,” said Mr. Perry. As West Tisbury police chief Dan Rossi later noted, it is illegal for cars to back onto a state highway, a frequent maneuver at the current station necessitated by its location.

After consulting the International Association of Chiefs of Police space needs analysis checklist, the siting committee estimates that the new town station would require 4,331 square feet of space, to house, among other things, a 225-square-foot fitness facility, a 100-square-foot sleep center and a 900-square-foot vehicle garage and sally port (a secured garage entranceway used to transport sensitive detainees). In addition, the station could share facilities with the current public safety building, including the conference room and kitchen and break room.

“If anybody‘s ever been into our station there’s not a whole lot of privacy when you go in there,” said Mr. Rossi. “There’s not a whole lot of room for storage, there’s not a whole lot of room for equipment. With this square footage I think that would all be taken care of and would also be good enough for 20 years from now.”

Mr. Rossi said that he expects the police to grow to 11 from nine full-time officers over the next two decades to serve the year-round residents.

To site the new building the committee ranked 11 town-owned properties on criteria that included visibility, security, location relative to other services, parking and public transit access. The town fire station on the Edgartown-West Tisbury Road fit many of the qualifications, but in the end the public safety building proved most favorable. The current septic system at the site may need to be upgraded.

The public has two weeks to comment before the committee presents its plan to selectmen in February. The selectmen will then appoint a building and design committee whose funding must be approved at town meeting, estimated at around $50,000. The police station siting committee has spent less than $700 of its $15,000 budget.

Fire chief Manuel Estrella 3rd approved of the committee’s recommendation.

“I think it’s a great spot,” he said.