Edgartown selectmen Monday directed the town Yellow House committee to seek a developer only for the portion of the Main street lot where the dilapidated house is located.

Selectmen want the town to retain total control over the rest of the lot, with preliminary plans to develop public parking and a small park.

Such an arrangement would allow the town to avoid a public procurement bidding process, and give preference to a local developer to rehabilitate the historic yellow house, selectmen said.

The town took the property by eminent domain earlier this year following a long and contentious legal battle with the Benjamin Hall family, which owned the property in trust. The town paid the Halls $3 million. Now the process has begun to find a developer to rehab the building as commercial space.

The Yellow House committee has been meeting weekly to craft a request for proposals (RFP) to attract project plans from developers.

In a meeting Tuesday, the committee discussed giving preference to a developer with experience permitting and building historic projects on Martha’s Vineyard.

The committee expects to have a working RFP draft ready in time for a public forum next week.

The forum, designed to gather public opinion though it is not a formal public hearing, is set for Wednesday, August 23, at town hall, beginning at 4 p.m.