JULIE LANE FILE PHOTO | The oven hood was installed in the Senior Activity Center kitchen in November, but still one more step remains before the county can sign off on the facility.

In an are-you-kidding-me moment, the Reporter has learned the kitchen at Shelter Island’s Senior Activity Center is still not cleared to open.

That’s the case, Public Works Commissioner Jay Card Jr. confirmed today, with the final go-ahead not yet approved by by the Suffolk County Department of Health Services. But he’s optimistic  the kitchen will be ready for inspection within a few weeks.

“We are very close to the end,” Mr. Card said  about the status of the long shuttered facility.

The new kitchen needs five sinks to pass inspection and while four areready, it was unclear where the fifth would go until an oven hood was  installed back in November. Its installation required movement of cabinets and counter tops.

After its installation, Mr. Card determined that the old cabinets couldn’t be reused and ordered new ones along with  new counter tops and the fifth sink.

“We are putting in all new cabinets — that’s the holdup,” Mr. Card said.

“The fifth sink is being built into the counter top and is the only part of the missing requirement for inspection,” he said.

He expects to have the cabinets in a couple of weeks and said it will take only a day or two for installation.