The future of the historic Tea Lane farmhouse will be in the hands of Chilmark voters at a special town meeting tonight 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.

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.