Shelter Island Library project needs site plan review: Bond on hold pending completion

Shelter Island Library Director Terry Lucas learned Tuesday that delays in getting its expansion plans going could be extended because the rules changed in mid-game.

In an effort to extend site plan reviews to projects previously not requiring them, the Town Board decided nonprofits, previously exempt from site plan approvals, now would need them.

Supervisor Amber Brach-Williams said nonprofits such as the library have an impact on the look of the Town and should be subject to the same procedures as other construction projects.

For years, library officials have pushed ahead with permits necessary to their expansion plans and putting into place bonding to pay for the anticipated $9.5 million cost.

But with the site plan requirement tossed into the mix now, the funding won’t be released until the site plan is approved, Ms. Lucas told the Town Board at Tuesday’s work session.

Ms. Brach-Williams had every intent of fast-tracking the process, but may be hindered by the need for an environmental State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) review.

The supervisor had hoped the Town Board would agree Tuesday to allow P.W. Grosser, an environmental consulting firm that has taken on many such reviews for the Town, to start the process of reviewing the library plans.

Councilman Benjamin Dyett said he strongly favors the library expansion project, but wanted the Town Board to choose another company to undertake the SEQRA review. He said it was not a criticism of P.W. Grosser, but a desire to explore who else is out there that might be able to undertake the review.

At various times in the past, there have been public expressions of concern about the Town continually using P.W. Grosser for consultation.

Even if the Town Board had agreed to P.W. Grosser serving as its environmental consultant on the project, extra meetings would have been necessary to get all the necessary reviews in place for a final site plan approval. But without agreement on the SEQRA consultant, it remains to be seen if site plan approval can occur within a month.

A public hearing on the project is scheduled for Oct. 22. But the supervisor told Ms. Lucas that despite her best efforts to fast-track the process, it may not happen as intended.

“We’re going to do our best but delays happen,” Ms. Brach-Williams told Ms. Lucas.

Before the more than three-hour meeting ended, Library Board of Trustees Vice President Jo-Ann Robotti had the construction plans delivered to the Town Board to enable a vote this week to set the public hearing for the special meeting on Oct. 22.