Babylon's shift of $1M in COVID relief funds to aid renovation of Irwin S. Quintyne North Amityville Annex

Babylon Town is reallocating $1 million in federal COVID-19 relief money from a Copiague bulkheading and dredging project to other projects in town, most notably an inside-out renovation of a North Amityville building that officials said is crucial to serving the needs of underserved residents.

The town received nearly $28 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act pandemic relief funding that was approved by Congress in 2021. Municipalities on Long Island received a total of more than $1 billion and had until the end of last year to allocate the money or lose it.

“We had, I think, 7 cents left,” joked Tom Stay, chief of staff for the town. “We were not letting any of that money go to waste.”

The town had originally slotted $1 million to the bulkheading and dredging project near Rialto Square, a circular underwater island near the Grand Canal in Copiague. But when a federal grant of that size came through, the town decided to redirect the money to several other projects being planned.

Most of the reallocation, $665,000, is going toward the renovation of the Irwin S. Quintyne North Amityville Annex at 1 Commerce Blvd.

The building is home to the town’s Department of Human Services and its food pantry, as well as a nonprofit, Keep Your Change, which provides after-school and summer programs for children and teens.

Town Supervisor Rich Schaffer said that over the years, the building has become “kind of the center of the universe” for the North Amityville and Copiague communities.

“It’s a godsend to have that building and it provides so many important lifelines to people who are in a really bad way,” he said.

The town is using the rest of the reallocation, $335,000, for additional engineering services for the Rialto project, building facade improvement and firehouse fuel station projects in North Amityville, and coastline restoration in Amity Harbor. 

Stay said officials checked with the U.S. Treasury Department, and because some ARPA money had already been assigned to the projects prior to the December deadline, the town got the green light for the reallocation.

A focus on annex interior

The town had originally directed nearly $1 million in ARPA money, as well as a $615,000 state grant, for structural repairs at the North Amityville Annex, including a new roof, windows and steel beams. But without any additional funds, the town had to forgo all interior improvements. With the reallocation, the town will now be able to do a host of interior renovations, including creating more space for its tenants.

The building, which was constructed in the 1960s, has had increasing structural issues, Stay said. A flood in the basement last spring cost Keep Your Change eight years' worth of supplies.

“When the architect looked, they said this building is getting a little wonky, you can’t just throw on a couple of shingles and be done with it,” he said. “No one was in danger, but the building was getting old and to do a proper renovation we had to do it from the steel on down.”

The work on the building is already underway and the human services department and the food pantry had to be relocated to other facilities, Stay said. The renovation is expected to be finished early next year, he said.

The renovation had Keep Your Change scrambling to find another temporary home. The organization’s after-school program provides food and academic tutoring, along with other help, to economically disadvantaged children.

“Nobody could find us a place to go; it was horrible,” said Pam Allen, director of operations for the nonprofit, who held the program at her house when renovations started. She said the displacement was yet another blow to the group after last year’s flood, which cost them supplies used to teach skills to children, such as sewing machines and bicycles.

Community pitches in

The town gave Keep Your Change some storage space, and several months ago the group received permission from Walter G. O'Connell Copiague High School to use a room for its after-school program. The Prayer Tabernacle Church of God in Christ in North Amityville is giving the group space for its summer program.

Allen said the relocation has been difficult for the kids, most of whom come from families facing food and housing insecurity. Many didn’t have the resources to get to the high school. The nonprofit went from serving about 100 families to serving 35, she said.

Because of the restrictions schools have on visitors, she has not been able to rely on the cadre of volunteers she previously used. Certain programming, such as cooking lessons, also had to be halted.

“Being displaced has been so hard,” she said. “But we have just been so lucky to be able to function and that the community has really come through for us.”

As part of the renovations, Keep Your Change will have more space, something Allen said will be used for new programs.

“We are so excited about it, because we really need the space,” she said. “We’re really planning on expanding and we can’t wait.”

By Denise M. Bonilla

denise.bonilla@newsday.comdenisebonilla

Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.