Photos
A new location for the historic Carnegie Library may have been found.
Legis. Rob Calarco, D-Patchogue, recently announced that he has put in a resolution in the Suffolk County Legislature that could move the library next to the Sixth District Court on Main Street.
“It authorizes the County attorney and DPW (Department of Public Works) to work with the Village of Patchogue to develop an agreement to place the library on our Sixth District Court property,” Calarco told Patch.
The resolution was originally reported by Newsday before Calarco submitted it.
The building was reported in October to be in danger of being knocked down when Patchogue Village mayor Paul Pontieri said that the Village may be unable to afford the Lake Street building’s maintenance. The library also sits on land owned by Tritec Real Estate Company, which plans to build a New Village plan of 291 apartments, 46,000 square feet of retail space and 18,000 square feet of office space. As part of an agreement, Tritec is obligated to move the library at no cost to Patchogue Village.
Since then, community members and local politicians have been working to find the building a new location and a potential private use for the Carnegie Library.
Calarco said that the resolution, if approved, would create an agreement in which the County continues to own the land, and the Village would still be responsible for the upkeep of the building.
Calarco said the earliest the resolution could be adopted is the March 13 Legislature meeting.
Steve Lucas, a member of both the Friends of the Carnegie Library and the Patchogue Historical Society, said that both organizations would like the building to become a community center.
“We feel that this would be a great spot for this,” Lucas said citing the location’s visibility from the west of Patchogue Village.
Jack Krieger, deputy mayor of Patchogue Village, said that the next step will be to find exactly which way the library would be positioned on the property.
“We wanted to do it with as little impact on the taxpayer as we could,” Krieger said. He cited that Patchogue Village Mayor Paul Pontieri, trustee Lori Devlin and himself worked with Calarco on the solution.
Calarco said that the effect the building has on parking for the courthouse and the potential use of the library is also a factor. Krieger said that the library can be moved with little to no impact on the parking situation.
A use for the building also still needs to be found.
“From the point of view of the historical society, we would like to have at least a portion of it as a museum,” Lucas said. “We have accumulated a lot of artifacts and historic items from the area and we need a place to display them to the public.”
Another possible use that has been discussed at a recent Village Board of Trustees meeting is as a school of film. The library itself was previously reported to be in great shape by an architect.
Want breaking news updates on hot-button local issues like Carnegie Library? Subscribe to our Newsletters.
In This article
-
Suffolk County District Court, Sixth District
150 W Main St, Patchogue, NY (corner of Main & Patchogue-Holbrook Rd (West Ave)) -
-
-
-
-
Dennis Barone
2:20 pm on Thursday, February 9, 2012
Hey Deputy Mayor Krieger, why are you taking photo ops on BROOKHAVEN TOWN time? Since I as a taxpaying Brookhaven resident I am your boss, I’m officially telling you that I DON’T approve of you taking photo ops on BROOKHAVEN TOWN time. Do your VILLAGE politicking on your OWN time not BROOKHAVEN TOWN time! Theft of services is a crime and I will let the Supervisor know that you are stealing time from the Town
Stinkerbelle
4:01 pm on Thursday, February 9, 2012
Mr. Barone,
The article is about a possible location for the library and not how much you dislike Mr. Krieger. Is it possible for you to stay on topic? A simple yes or no please.
Kim Martino
7:53 pm on Thursday, February 9, 2012
I think this is a bad location. What happened to moving it next to the Brickhouse as was proposed to the community back in 2007? Remember? To create an historic corridor with the Brickhouse, the Bank and the Library? Another bait and switch on the Tritec project! Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!
Lori B. Devlin
10:47 pm on Thursday, February 9, 2012
Yes that is what happens with visioning sessions, locations are proposed but real life gets in the way. For instance in this case Bank of America refused to relocate their drive-up to make room for the building. This is how it is in the real world and we are forced to make compromises. The second location proposed was in the parking lot almost across from where it is now but the Fire Dept balked. So Kim, why do you think that this is a bad location? There is plenty of parking and the road is wide and clear enough for it to make the move which is another consideration that must be taken into account.
The Village Idiot
9:12 am on Friday, February 10, 2012
Mr.Barone, I cannot belive you can leave such an comment about using town time for a photo opp. You of all people should know about stealing Town time. After all, that was one of the reasons you lost your town job.
John Bogack
9:36 am on Friday, February 10, 2012
Kim. I am a member of the the Friends of Carnegie Library committee. Finding possible locations near the present location have been stymied by objections about its placement. The Fire Department near by has raised objections about loss of parking space, and other locations also represent loss of parking in the main business area. As just about everyone knows parking is at a premium. The new site would place the building away from those issues and also makes use of a parking area that is underutilized. This solution is a practical way of solving the parking issue.
The Committee welcomes the involvement of Trustee Kreiger and all officials from all levels of government. We understand that there is a campaign going on and that people may have strong feelings about paricular candidates. However it has been the goal of the committee to avoid these conflicts and to concentrate on supporting the preservation of the building as our overriding goal. It should be noted that members of both political parties have expressed their support for preserving the building and that's good because without that support its preservation may not occur at all. And we are not out of the woods yet on that issue either.
John Bogack
9:37 am on Friday, February 10, 2012
Just a further thought. The Friend of the Carnegie Library committee has its own Facebook page and updates have been posted describing the progress of the effort. It's a good resource for looking at the various options about the preservation effort and a place to get the latest news about the campaign.
Louis Minafra
11:42 am on Friday, February 10, 2012
What about the corner of Lake St. & West Ave., it's not far. Or Havens Ave. & Lake St. or Main St..
Also it should be used by Patchogue to promote the area and Arts, perfect place for the Friends of the Carnegie Library and the Patchogue Historical Society headquarters.
John Bogack
3:01 pm on Friday, February 10, 2012
Yes Louis I see where you are going and these would be good ideas but do you have the money to front the purchase costs for these sites. Real world issue is that the Calarco land deal if I can call it that is something like a dollar lease to the village as far as I know. More details about this and the engineer's report coming at the Monday Board meeting I have just learned. As a member of the public you are invited to show up and if you have the stamina you can stick around for the public portion and ask those in charge yourself about your ideas.
Also, yes it would be a great idea to have the buidling used for historical purposes. Issue the budget of the Friends of the Carnegie library committee stands at a whopping 1800 dollars raised by some wonderful women who sold cupcakes to raise that money. Again the real world intrudes. Somewhere some one with some cash reserves or the ability to get cash has to be found to take on the running of the building for whatever person is found for it. It might a wonderful Tikki bar since that probably would bring in a cash flow. I see the Palm trees on the roof now. But I hope another end use will arise before we are down to that option.
Christie
3:37 pm on Friday, February 10, 2012
Ms. Devlin I really think taking parking spaces away from volunteers responding to fires in the village would become an issue don't you think?
I hope they move the Library to behind the courthouse and get rid of that disgusting bus stop that is a haven for drug dealing.
John Bogack
4:31 pm on Friday, February 10, 2012
Christie: it's not often in government that you get what you want but for the moment the plan is to move the LIbrary to behind the court house or somewhere near it, and the bus stop is going to be moved south to Unity Place. Still a way to go before an inch of dirt gets moved but for right now that's the plan.