The future of the historic Tea Lane farmhouse will be in the hands of Chilmark voters at a special town meeting Monday night as they decide whether or not to back a $550,000 project to restore the farmhouse and prepare the land for a tenant farmer.

The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Chilmark Community Center. Longtime moderator Everett Poole will preside over the 11-article warrant.

This will be the second attempt to appropriate funds for the hilltop house which sits at the intersection of Tea Lane and Middle Road.

The project dates to 2001 when the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank jointly bought the farmhouse and surrounding land that included a life estate for Bobby Silva. The town-owned portion of the property includes the farmhouse and the surrounding three acres; the land bank holds title to the 48 acres of farmland.

When Mr. Silva died last February, the selectmen formed a committee to create a plan for the property. At a town meeting a year ago, voters rejected the committee’s request for $300,000 due to lack of a clear plan for the property. Instead they approved $30,000 to develop a formal plan and designs.

Since then a new building committee formed made up of Dick Smith, selectman Frank Fenner and building inspector Leonard Jason Jr.. A formal design has been drawn up by Chilmark resident Elise Elliston and been approved by the town planning board and historical commission. Needed repairs to the 18th century home include new windows, exterior trim, insulation, sheetrock, flooring, and doors wide enough to meet the state fire code.

In the interim the land bank has leased out the surrounding pastures to Mermaid Farm for grazing dairy cows. The next steps are restoring the house to livable conditions and then soliciting applications from people interested in leasing the property as a working farm.

If the article is approved, the $550,000 will come from several accounts — $300,000 from community preservation act funds, $100,000 from available funds in the treasury and $150,000 from the general stabilization fund.

A two-thirds vote is required for the article to pass.

Voters will also decide whether to spend $5,000 for a Chilmark Pond restoration plan, with matching funds from the Chilmark Pond Association. The pond was breached during tropical storm Irene and the dunes around the pond continue to erode.

The private pond association opens the cut between the pond and Lucy Vincent Beach four times a year.

Voters also will be asked to approve $25,0000 to put the finishing touches on the Middle Line Road affordable housing project for landscaping and site improvements. The money was already approved at the annual town meeting but must be transferred from one account to another.

Another recurring project includes $29,000 to pay for bonding costs for the Menemsha pier connector and West Dock destroyed in the July 12, 2010 Coast Guard boathouse fire. The money also was approved in previous town meeting articles and will be transferred.

Other spending articles include $6,500 to repair the harbor department’s inflatable boat and $2,700 to contribute to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission’s affordable housing needs assessment study.

Selectmen are also proposing the town join the Cape and Vineyard Electrical Cooperative, who have expressed interest in developing a solar array at the old landfill. Voters will decide if Chilmark will join the ranks of Tisbury, Edgartown and West Tisbury as part of the energy cooperative.