Carnegie Library May Have New Home

A new location for the historic 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 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 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 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, and 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 to be in great shape by an architect.

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