Oak Bluffs voters may soon be asked to spend $100,000 to pay for engineering work associated with an ambitious waterfront improvement project along Seaview avenue from Oak Bluffs harbor to Farm Pond.

The total cost of the project is pegged at $2.7 million.

The news come on the heels of the release of a 35-page report entitled Sea View Revitalization Concept Master Plan, drafted by a special task force created last year to develop a plan to revitalize the town beach.

The report from the boardwalk to beach task force recommends the installation of new railing along the beach, new walkways down to the shoreline, a new viewing pagoda opposite Samoset avenue, an improved concession stand and new light fixtures and recycling bins.

The beach task force is a subcommittee of the town community development committee, an ad hoc committee appointed by selectmen three years ago. The committee researches planning and development issues on behalf of the selectmen.

The community development committee hopes to seek engineering money at a special meeting to design a plan to repair and improve the beachfront.

A date for the special meeting has been not been set, and selectmen have yet to discuss potential articles that might appear on the warrant.

But the projected engineering costs for the beach work are the result of a double-barreled effort from two town boards.

The community development committee will seek $46,000 for engineering plans for the beach, while the town conservation commission will seek $65,000 for an engineer’s survey to restore the beach and bank system in downtown Oak Bluffs.

The conservation commission wants to learn more about the effect of the sea wall at the Inkwell Beach that many feel is slowly starving the beach of sand.

But the community development committee wants much more. A detailed breakdown of costs in the appendix of the Sea View Revitalization Plan lists costs for things like signs, new plantings, bike racks, lifeguard stands, swim floats and wheelchair access.

The cost of all these improvements is estimated at $2.73 million. If voters approve the engineering fees, the community development committee plans to seek state and federal funding to offset the overall price tag.

The committee would then seek more funding at the annual town meeting next April — perhaps more than $2 million — with the idea that work on the beachfront might begin as early as next spring.

Over the past year, the beach task force has held public hearings, met with other town boards and committees and touted their plan at public outings. This week, the beach task force held its final meeting, and the group was folded back into the community development committee.

Nancy Phillips, chairman of the now defunct beach task force, said renourishing and revitalizing the town beach is vital to the town’s economic future.

“We have the only full service beach on the Island; a place where families can come and enjoy themselves and not have to worry about things like bathrooms and food . . . we have this tremendous asset, and yet we haven’t done anything to maintain or improve it for over 50 years. It’s really a shame, I think we’ve forgotten what we once had,” she said.

The town beach was once the most vibrant stretch of sand on the Vineyard, where massive bathhouses towered over the waterfront and couples danced to the music of big bands at night. Families would stake out their spots early in the morning and later eat lunch at a bustling concession stand.

But after decades of budget constraints, damaging storms and benign neglect, the once thriving beach is now a shell of its former self. Several stairways leading down to the water have fallen into disrepair and in some places the railing along the beach is literally held together by duct tape.

Showers, changing rooms, bathhouses and wooden walkways are now gone. The concession stand is still there, although a wall running along the stand is cracked and collapsed.

Oak Bluffs selectman Kerry Scott said she remembers playing cards as a young girl at the beach on rainy days and meeting friends there she still knows today. She considers the beach a key part of the town and when she was elected three years ago she said improving the beach was her top priority.

“I’ve been told by people who travel the world that we have something very special in Oak Bluffs — a town beach within walking distance to downtown. It should be the jewel of the town, yet we have ignored it and neglected it for decades,” Ms. Scott said.

Ms. Scott said a fast track for the beach project is warranted.

“We have a tendency to do things piecemeal in this town instead of just making the wholesale changes that are required, and in the end it winds up costing us more money. In this case, there are also very real and immediate environmental issues that need to be addressed,” she said.

It is unclear where the rest of the selectmen stand on the Sea View Revitalization Plan. The plan was discussed only briefly at Tuesday’s regular meeting, and selectmen have taken no formal action on the proposal.

Town administrator Michael Dutton said Wednesday that selectmen had just received the plan and would likely need time to review it thoroughly. Mr. Dutton said improvements to the town beach are necessary, but he said the plan should be thoroughly vetted before going to voters.

Selectmen Gregory Coogan, Roger Wey and Duncan Ross could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Joan Hughes, chairman of the conservation commission, agreed there is a pressing need to address things like erosion and structural decay at town beach, but she warned that voters should be aware that the engineering survey proposed by the conservation commission is quite different and separate from the community development committee proposal.

The plan proposed by the conservation commission would fund a critical engineering survey of the beach and its infrastructure as part an ongoing effort to restore the beach and bank system downtown, and would study things like the structural integrity of the sea walls and analysis of sand volumes.

“We have a near crisis situation that needs to be addressed; we have a jetty in the wrong spot, we are losing sand and the seawall and sidewalk is falling apart. But we can’t do anything until we have [an engineering plan] in hand,” Ms. Hughes said.

An engineering survey of the area would also allow the conservation commission to apply for various state and federal grants to improve the infrastructure along the beach, she said.