With a March 1 deadline for moving the historic Epsom meetinghouse before it’s razed, selectmen voted to pursue a townwide special election that will determine the building’s fate.

Cumberland Farms now owns the Route 4 and Blackhall Road property where the 1861 building, which was most recently the home of the Epsom Bible Church, sits.

The company has repeatedly agreed to push back its deadline by which the building must be moved to avoid demolition. Cumberland Farms plans to build a gas station and convenience store in its place.

A Town Office Building Committee was formed in November to look into refashioning the historic building into town offices, to replace the current rented space on Blackhall Road. Another committee has been raising an estimated $75,000 required to move the building up Route 4 to the site of the old town hall and new library, but a town vote to accept the building is required before the building can make the trip.

Cumberland Farms’ March 1 deadline precedes the annual Town Meeting vote by two weeks, so the Friends of the Epsom Historic Meetinghouse Committee asked selectmen to petition the state for a special election, said selectmen Chairman Joni Kitson.

A townwide vote is required now that selectmen – who were a week away from voting whether or not to accept the building – were served a petition in November.

At the time, petitioners said the decision of whether to adopt the building was too important for just the five-member board of selectmen.

Kitson said the meetinghouse committee has pledged to cover the cost of the special town meeting through a donation. Committee Chairman Richard Frambach said that cost is about $1,600.

“We’re willing to spend that so not to burden the taxpayers with that expense,” said Frambach.

Frambach said in order to beat the March 1 deadline, the committee hopes to meet with utility companies, police and fire officials, and other town and state departments to coordinate a swift move.

“If it gets voted in, we’ll be ready to move,” he said. “If it doesn’t, we’ll back off.” One of the conditions of a “yes” vote, said Frambach, is that the costs to move the building are all collected.

“I think by the time the vote comes, the money will be there to back it,” said Frambach. “We’re trying to keep a positive attitude about this.”

The group has also collected donations and pledges of service for work on the building if it’s moved.

When selectmen were considering whether to accept the building, many residents spoke out against the plan to keep it for town use. Some residents said they were uncomfortable with there being no firm price tag associated with renovating the building, and others said maintaining such an old structure isn’t cost effective.

The Friends of the Meetinghouse Committee, however, has argued that turning the building into town offices would be cheaper in the long run than paying a bond to build new town offices or continuing to rent office space.

Many residents addressing selectmen in November said Epsom would lose its most significant remaining historic structure if the building were razed. “Once it’s up there and people see it sitting by the new library, they’ll know they made the right decision,” said Frambach.

The deliberative session will be Saturday, Jan. 6, at 9 a.m. at the Epsom Central School gym. Voting will be Tuesday, Feb. 13, from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Epsom Central School.