Head of the Harbor grants key approval for Russian Orthodox monastery

A Russian Orthodox monastery’s proposal to build a small church on its campus advanced Wednesday night after Head of the Harbor approved architectural plans.

Village trustees voted 5-0 to approve the aesthetic part of the application. Monastery of Saint Dionysios the Areopagite had sought to build a 3,341-square-foot building on its 4.6-acre campus. 

Next, the monastery on North Country Road must file plans with the village's building inspector before permits can be issued.

The monastery’s monks live and worship in Timothy House, a historic residence dating back to the 1800s that once housed descendants of the Smith family, the founders of Smithtown. Timothy House is on the federal and state Registers of Historic Places.

The monastery, its leaders have said, wanted to give the monks more space for prayers, confessions, counseling and pastoral work.

The village and monastery recently settled a lawsuit that paved the way for Wednesday's approval. The monastery had sued Head of the Harbor in October, alleging the village was delaying final sign-offs. The lawsuit also objected to the village's request to have a consultant enter and inspect Timothy House, where the monks live and worship, Newsday has reported. The lawsuit was discontinued in April after both parties agreed to settle, court documents show. 

"They're very happy to get the approval," Joseph Buzzell, an attorney for the monastery, said in an interview on Thursday. "These are men who have chosen a religious life, and they need a place to pray and hold services, and they're happy to get the small monastic church under construction."

The village dropped its request to inspect Timothy House from the inside, while the monastery agreed to let the village consultant inspect the rest of the property, court documents show.

"We're hopeful that [any remaining steps] are more administerial now," Mayor Michael Utevsky said after the meeting. As for the village board's role, he said, "we're done. Our approvals are complete." 

In 2024, village trustees granted the monastery a special permit that allowed it to build a house of worship in a residential zone. In August last year, the village granted site plan approval for construction.

The village also required a qualified preservation consultant to review the plans. Head of the Harbor selected Zachary Studenroth, a Sag Harbor-based architectural preservation consultant.

Maps and drawings show the roof covering, siding and open porch to be built from natural wood or substitute composition materials, while the siding will be a light mist color. The roof’s shingles will be a mossy cedar color. Buzzell said at the hearing that the monastery has no plans to change or modify Timothy House.

Father Vasileios Willard, who leads the monastery, said at the hearing that the church’s aesthetic and design will be compatible with the village's historic district.

In an eight-page report, Studenroth said the proposed structure and its adjacent parking lot “meet the relevant criteria for new construction” in the historic district of St. James.

“The massing, scale and material components of the proposed building are well chosen to harmonize with the existing historic resources on the property and within the context of the St. James Historic District,” Studenroth wrote in the report. 

Studenroth, who attended Wednesday's meeting, told board members: “For the record, I think the spirit of the issue in preserving this property comes through loud and clear."