The Edgartown community preservation committee approved several applications for community preservation funds during a hearing last week, with one blockbuster item: a $700,500 renovation of town hall.

With the committee’s recommendation, the proposed projects will be vetted by town counsel, to make sure they legally qualify for funding, and then go to town meeting for approval.

“I think that the noteworthy proposal is the very large rehabilitation of town hall, which is in dire need of a rehabilitation,” said Alan Gowell, chair of the community preservation committee. “There is no doubt about it.”

“I certainly hope that the voters approve the rehabilitation of town hall,” he said, noting the building’s prime location in the center of town on Main street. “It’s an important building.”

In 2008, problems with the ceiling plaster in the more-than-160-year-old building caused parts of the third-floor ceiling to fall. Mr. Gowell said the town hall’s windows, siding, and parts of the foundation need to be corrected.

When Edgartown adopted the Community Preservation Act, a statewide program that allocates funds from an additional real estate tax toward historic preservation, open space, and affordable housing, the state matched 100 per cent of the funds generated by the town, through money in a statewide trust fund. According to the state, the 2012 match rate for Edgartown is 33.92 per cent.

Mr. Gowell said community preservation committees across the commonwealth are disappointed that the state couldn’t sustain the original match rate. “However, the state’s match of more than 33 per cent is still one of the most generous programs the town benefits by from the state,” he said.

Edgartown, with a three per cent surcharge, collected slightly more than $600,000 this year, Mr. Gowell said. “With the state’s match of $204,000, Edgartown’s community preservation revenue totals slightly more than $807,000,” he said.

“We have recommended spending more than that sum by using most of the funds that were unspent from previous years,” Mr. Gowell said, with this year’s larger expense attributed to the town hall project.

The committee also approved several affordable housing proposals: $126,000 for the Dukes County Regional Housing rental assistance program; $27,000 to Dukes Country Regional Housing for repairs to Fisher Road, building number four; $24,000 to Morgan Woods Housing for temporary rental assistance, and a request from the Edgartown affordable housing committee to allot an additional $75,000 to the community preservation affordable housing account.

Besides the town hall improvements, other historic preservation projects were approved: $12,500 for the Edgartown historic district committee to research expansion of the historic district; $73,000 for the Edgartown Firemen’s Association for preservation of historic firefighting artifacts at the fire museum, and $12,500 for the restoration of a stained glass window at St. Andrew’s Church.

The committee also approved an $85,000 request by the parks department to build wooden portable toilet structures at South Beach.

“The committee discusses each of these proposals carefully and meets with the committee or organization seeking the funds,” Mr. Gowell said.