Library Wing Clears Final Hurdle

    It only took five minutes on March 7 for the East Hampton Village Design Review Board to end the East Hampton Library’s nine-year wait for site plan approval so that it can finally begin construction of its new children’s wing.

“All we need now is a building permit,” Dennis Fabiszak, the library’s director, said after the meeting. “That will probably take a couple of weeks.”

The new wing, designed by Robert A.M. Stern, encompasses approximately 6,800 square feet, half of that below ground, as well as an expanded parking area and all associated walkways and landscaping.

The library’s project was halted when the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals denied its application for a special permit in July of 2010. However, the determination was reversed last May by the State Supreme Court. The zoning board was forced to grant the permit, but set several conditions for it, mostly related to parking and traffic control.

Last week the design review board still had some concerns about the outside lighting and whether it was sufficient for the parking area. A separate lighting plan will be submitted by the library, but it would not hold up the okay from the board, according to the chairman, Stuyvesant Wainwright III.

“I want to thank the board for keeping track of this,” Mr. Wainwright said just after the determination. “And Linda [Riley, the village attorney] for writing draft after draft after draft.”

“I also want to thank the library for being so flexible,” he said. Construction is expected to begin sometime in April.