SOUTH DEERFIELD — Weeks after narrowing down the search for a potential future home for the South County Senior Center to either the South Deerfield Congregational Church or the Whately Town Offices, the feasibility study’s Deerfield aspect has shifted instead across the parking lot to Town Hall.

In a brief meeting last week, Senior Center Board of Oversight members agreed to have edmStudio, the consultant undertaking the study, shift its focus from the 203-year-old church on North Main Street to the Deerfield Town Hall at 8 Conway St.

The move comes for two reasons. First, Town Hall recently became an option after Deerfield voters on Oct. 7 approved funding to move forward with the rehabilitation of the 1888 Building, which will house municipal offices once the renovations are complete. Secondly, the Senior Center needs about 12,000 to 15,000 square feet of space to meet its needs and the church would need an expensive addition or it would need to be torn down, which residents would push back against, according to Board of Oversight and Deerfield Select Board member Trevor McDaniel.

“I think the Deerfield Town Hall, now that we’ve had our vote and [the 1888 Building rehabilitation is] moving forward, really opens up the most viable location for a senior center with enough square footage to get something done without the headache of trying to convince everybody to take down the church,” McDaniel said. “My heart says we’re not going to get enough square footage out of that church.”

Members of the Board of Oversight, as well as Deerfield town officials, have long looked at the South Deerfield Congregational Church as a potential home for the Senior Center, although the communities are now looking at alternative options now that edmStudio has identified how much space is needed. The church is currently being used by Tilton Library during construction work of its own.

Deerfield Town Hall had been considered as a possibility at points as well, although its availability was not clear until voters affirmed their support for the 1888 Building project on Oct. 7. The Board of Oversight had voted to narrow its search to the church and Whately’s Town Offices just two days prior on Oct. 5.

“This was an option that necessarily wasn’t on the table previously,” said Deerfield interim Town Administrator Christopher Dunne, who noted edmStudio is agreeable to looking at Town Hall, too. “They’re agnostic about which space on the campus it is.”

Board of Oversight Chair and Whately Select Board member Joyce Palmer-Fortune agreed, emphasizing that the top priority is to keep all of the Senior Center’s programming in a single space.

“This feasibility study is a real opportunity for us. … I want the best location that can be offered on the Deerfield campus to be studied,” she said. “I don’t want us to end this process with people feeling like we didn’t get the best possible option studied.”

The change in Deerfield’s focus doesn’t change anything about edmStudio looking at the Whately Town Offices at 4 Sandy Lane. The biggest challenge at that location, though, is that it would need an approximately 10,000-square-foot addition to meet the Senior Center’s needs.

The Deerfield Town Hall, too, would likely need some sort of work if it were the option selected. Alternatively, the building, which is about 12,000 square feet, could be torn down and another could be built in its footprint, which would likely see less resistance from residents than tearing down the historical church.

“In the end,” McDaniel said, “I think it’s important to take a look at — and to be fair to Whately and to be fair to Deerfield — to give us a number on either of those.”

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.