By JULIA RAPPAPORT

Chilmark voters will be asked to spend half a million dollars at a special town meeting Monday as they consider whether to purchase two properties which will allow the Middle Line Road affordable housing project to move ahead. The project, now in its final planning stages, will be the first town-sponsored affordable housing project in Chilmark.

The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Chilmark Community Center. Moderator Everett H. Poole will preside.

Voters will consider three articles; all must be approved for the property purchase to go forward. The first article asks voters to spend $275,000 for a .72 acre lot off Tabor House Road. The lot is owned by Beverly Gillis Jaksa. The money will come from three community preservation committee reserve funds: an open space fund, an affordable housing fund and a general reserve fund, The second article, contingent on the approval of the first, asks voters to spend $225,000 on an adjacent .7 acre lot owned by Walter A. Jenkinson Jr., Blair Emin and Keith Emin. The money will come from two community preservation funds: open space and affordable housing.

The two properties will allow selectmen to reroute a planned access road for the project. When selectmen presented preliminary plans for the project to their planning board and the Martha’s Vineyard Commission last year, both groups expressed concern over the safety of the planned access road.

In addition, the two lots will create a patch of open land between the affordable housing project and the capped town landfill and will permit a walking trail joining Holman and Middle Line Roads with the road to Peaked Hill.

Agreements between the town and the current owners have already been signed.

A third article asks for approval to close off the present access on Tabor House and Middle Line Roads and to reroute the access road over the two properties.

Earlier this month, the Chilmark planning board opened a public hearing on the plan. The Martha’s Vineyard Commission, which is reviewing the project as development of regional impact, will hold a public hearing on March 13 at 7:30 p.m. in the Olde Stone Building in Oak Bluffs. The planning board continues its public hearing at 4:30 p.m. on March 24 in Chilmark town hall.