Lindenhurst to vote on streamlined $9.4M bond measure for library improvements

The Lindenhurst Memorial Library’s board of trustees is asking voters to approve a $9.4 million bond to renovate the 50-year-old building, two years after voters rejected a $14.5 million bond.

Residents cited the high price tag to add 10,000 square feet to the existing 22,000-square-foot building on Lee Avenue as reason for voting down the bond and offered feedback to the board afterward. Library director Lisa Kropp said she believes the new figure is more palatable.

“I think that this new bond proposal addresses a lot of the concerns that they previously had,” Kropp said.

The bond would add $64 to the annual tax bill for the average home assessed at $3,500, according to the library.

Like the 2017 bond, the proposed new bond would bring the 1969 building into compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act, widening doorways, replacing the existing small elevator with a larger one and making the bathrooms ADA-compliant, Kropp said.

It would also add fire sprinklers that the building lacks, as well as exterior lighting, security card access for staff, and a security system for library materials.

The parking lot would also be repaved, making the diagonal parking spots straight, adding five spots, improving traffic flow and relocating the two exits, Kropp said.

Unlike the 2017 bond that would have funded a 10,000-square-foot expansion, the latest one would add about 3,000 square feet.  Most would be for a 2,800-square-foot room for seniors to use in the mornings and teens to use in the afternoons. New reading nooks would use a few hundred square feet, and the building entrance would get more space for better traffic flow, Kropp said, adding that the bulk of the changes would come from repurposing existing space.

The library board hired BBS Architects of Patchogue for the project. Kropp said plans include creating a 700-square-foot quiet room and four community rooms for lectures, classes and community meetings “by using areas in a smarter way.”

The two existing community rooms, holding 15 and 75 people, respectively, don’t serve the community well, Kropp said. Instead, the four new rooms vary in size, “so that we have a lot more flexibility to accommodate so many more groups within the library," she said.

Kropp estimated that about one-third of the existing square footage will be reutilized.

The vote will be on Oct. 16, and the library will host two community meetings before then — on Sept. 21 at noon and Oct. 7 at 7 p.m.