The Tisbury School building committee agreed this week on a conceptual design for a school addition that puts the gymnasium at parking level to provide easier access for town residents.

A stage, bleachers to seat 240 people and enough floor space for up to another 800 in chairs are all part of the plan, architect Chris Blessen told the committee in their weekly public meeting on Zoom.

That’s hundreds more than the building is likely to be called on to hold, said committee member and selectman James Rogers.

The design for the gym, where Tisbury traditionally holds its town meetings and the school presents student performances, includes a lobby large enough to accommodate a check-in desk for events, said Richard Marks, the owner’s project manager for the school renovation and addition.

With a full basketball court that also can be divided into two side courts, the gym meets the standards of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association, committee chairman Harold Chapdelaine said, with one exception: When divided, one of the side courts is three feet closer to the gym wall than the MIAA recommends.

“If you’re running in this direction, you have only seven feet until you crash into a wall,” Mr. Chapdelaine said.

Heavy wall padding should prevent any injury from overrunning, Mr. Marks said. “It’s standard to have pretty thick vinyl cover pads on these walls.”

The building design also includes band and music rooms, changing rooms with locker space and storage for the music, athletic and theatre programs.

But while the stage is slightly wider and deeper than the one in the current Tisbury School gym, Mr. Marks said the current gym design does not make it accessible enough for people with disabilities. Without a better plan, Mr. Marks said, the gym as designed may not meet the accessibility standards required for new construction.

“I think we can work it out,” said Mr. Blessen, of Boston-based Tappé Architects. “This is one of the things you can evolve in the schematic design.”

Some committee members expressed concern about the orientation of the gym addition, which aligns with Spring street by emerging at an angle from the original 1929 school building and contains several internal angles as well.

“Angles present cost increases,” said committee member Reade Milne, an architect and the Edgartown building inspector.

Committee member Rachel Orr asked Mr. Blessen if the gym addition could be aligned to the existing building.

“You can square it up and not lose parking, (but) it will make the building bigger,” he said.

After more than an hour of discussion, Mr. Blessen won the committee’s commitment to accept the angled addition along Spring street, allowing him to move from conceptual to schematic design work on the gym building.

This is a stage the committee and project team had planned to reach weeks ago, chair Harold Chapdelaine said.

“We originally started with a fast-track goal, and we’re way behind that,” he said.

After concluding the gym discussion, Mr. Blessen began showing floor plans for a renovated school.

Proposed changes to the 90-year-old building include replacing the two end stairways with a single central stair, with the former end stair areas repurposed as breakout rooms for small-group activities.

The cafeteria design is large enough for the school to serve three lunches a day, instead of five as has been its practice in order not to overfill the room.

“You end up gaining classroom instruction time,” Mr. Blessen said.

The committee will continue reviewing floor plans at its next meeting, Monday at 5 p.m. on Zoom. Meeting information is posted at tisbury-school-project.com.