Sea Cliff Village Hall to get $400,000 in repairs

Trash cans sit below the vaulted ceilings, catching drips of water that have peeled plaster and turned white walls several shades of brown. The arched stained-glass window trim shows signs of rot.

Sea Cliff, a village proud and protective of its history, has struggled to prevent its 1914 Methodist church-turned-government center from slowly deteriorating. Despite inclusion on state and federal historical registries, the building has, until now, undergone only quick fixes to its leaking roof.

A $400,000 project to repair the Village Hall roof and associated damage is to begin this month. Nassau County is providing $104,000 in special project funds. Another $115,000 came from New York State's Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. The Sea Cliff general fund will pay for the rest.

"We realized we're slowly losing this building," Village Administrator Dan Maddock said.

In the past, a little plaster and paint would cover one leak, but another would soon appear. Cracks and water rings dot ceilings and walls in hallways, stairwells, offices and the library, distracting from the old church's patterned brickwork and ornate moldings.

The building became a civic hub after the village bought it in 1968. The arts council, a beautification committee, baseball and lacrosse clubs still use it.

When Mayor Bruce Kennedy unofficially suggested a worst-case scenario - replacing the structure with a new building - board members quickly rejected the idea.

"Building something that looked like it was not an option," he said.

Kennedy has watched the leaks ebb and flow for 15 years, first as a resident attending board meetings and now as mayor. In the past two years, as the damage worsened, he and Maddock intensified efforts to save the building on Sea Cliff Avenue.

They received a $40,000 state grant for an architectural study, which found the porous roof had leaked since the structure's early days, and a three-phase remediation plan. The first phase will replace flat portions of the asphalt shingle roof with copper.

Sea Cliff's leaders acknowledge fixing the roof is just the beginning.

"We have to accept the fact that when we open up the walls, there's going to be problems," Kennedy said. Still, they relish the prospect of staying dry inside.

"We've been looking forward to actually using the garbage cans for garbage," library director Arlene Nevens said.