by Kristina Gabalski
More than 40 supporters of the Hamlin Library braved blustery conditions Monday evening, April 1 outside the Town Hall, to show their support for the new library construction project (see photo).
Demonstrators, including many young library patrons, held home-made signs with messages that included: “We want a new library – listen,” “Petty, personal politics hold the town library hostage,” “Do we want a better library? Yes we do,” “We support a $1,000,000 investment in Hamlin. Why don’t you?” and “Stop the politics, start building.”
The Planning Board held their regular monthly meeting April 1, and demonstrators peppered Planning Board members with messages of, “vote yes for the library”… and … “stop the politics,” as they entered the Town Hall prior to their meeting. The library application was not considered by the Board that evening.
Attorney Daniel Schum, special counsel to the Planning Board regarding the library application, tells the Suburban News and Hamlin-Clarkson Herald, that the Planning Board is ready to move forward with a public hearing on the new library.
He said that during a special meeting of the Planning Board March 27 (during executive session), he was directed by the Board to advise the library’s attorney that the Planning Board was prepared to schedule a public hearing on the library application during a special meeting that could be scheduled in April.
“They want to move forward with the public hearing,” Schum says of Planning Board members.
Schum says the library’s attorney requested that the scheduling be adjourned until the next regular Planning Board meeting in May.
He says the current delay in moving the project forward is, “… not on the Planning Board.”
Peter Tonery, a member of the Hamlin Planning Board, tells the Suburban News and Hamlin-Clarkson Herald that he is mystified by claims the Board is holding up the process for political reasons.
“Everyone on the Planning Board has stated they support building the library,” Tonery says. “Our concern is only and entirely, the safety of the parking lot which we believe to be inadequate in the plan as proposed.”
Tonery elaborated on plans for the parking lot, noting there are now two handicapped spots and 16 other spaces. He says currently there is no place to turn around or drive through the parking lot.
“If a parent or patron drives all the way in, looking for the last spot and it’s taken, that person will have to back all the way out. Same for someone who drives in to pick up or drop off.”
Tonery says the Planning Board is also concerned about making the parking situation easier for senior citizens who will have a public meeting room in the library available to them. The Board would like to see a fence around the lot to make things safer for kids riding bikes, he adds.
“This is just basic safety,” he says, “… convenience stuff. It shouldn’t provoke a war.”
Tonery says library leaders have been deceiving the community about the proposal.
“The library leadership told their supporters that the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) and the Planning Board had ‘known about’ the proposal for ‘a year.’ This was not true. The Planning Board had only been told by our Town Board liaison, that the library, ‘is working on a plan.’ The same is true for the ZBA,” Tonery says.
He contends it is not true that the library has to be built on the specific parcel being proposed or it would lose its funding.
“The Supervisor stated several times on the record, that the entire available 40 acres of our municipal site was offered for the building. There is no evidence that the grant was linked to a specific parcel,” he says.
Tonery also notes NYS taxpayers are contributing $466,000 via the state grant to the project. “Unless everyone in Hamlin is exempt from NYS taxes, we are paying for it, it is not free.”
The library application presented to the Planning Board carried the signature of the library chair only, Tonery says. “Technically, the Planning Board could have tossed out the application and made the town start from scratch. Because the application was flawed, the clock has been re-set for the time available for a Planning Board ruling.”
Finally, Tonery says the grant for library construction runs until the summer of 2015.
In an email to Tonery from NY State Library Construction Grant Manager Linda Todd, she states the Hamlin project must be completed by June 30, 2015; if not, the library would have to return grant funds at that time.
“Problems with parking lot plans are not unusual and are usually fixed quickly if the construction project program manager works closely and cooperatively with their local Planning Board and the appropriate architects and vendors,” Todd writes.
Hamlin Supervisor Tom Breslawski says the Town Board held a special meeting this past January and invited Planning Board and ZBA members to attend to provide information on the proposal, allow them to ask questions and voice opinions.
“Of the five ZBA members, only the Chairperson, Norm Baase, attended – and voiced a negative opinion,” Breslawski says. “From the Planning Board, only two of seven members attended – Linda Morey and Dave Martin. Both Planning Board members spoke out against the project as well. Based on the lack of participation by other ZBA and Planning Board members, it was assumed they did not have major concerns.”
Breslawski says the library grant was written and approved for the exact site proposed – just south of the Town Hall on Route 19 (Lake Road).
“A SEQR determination was passed for that site specifically, not for anywhere else on town property,” Supervisor Breslawski says. “In addition, the grant was very specific that the proposed site would have frontage on Lake Road so that the project would be walkable for residents and have easy access to the existing sidewalk. Photos of the exact site were provided with the grant and that is how is was approved,” he says.
Library Trustees President Sue Evans also says the grant was written specifically for the parcel named. “Everything we have pursued is for the land specified in the grant,” she says. She added that the special meeting offered by the Planning Board attorney was declined by the library, but that they had been offered only another sketch conference. Evans said she was not aware if the scheduling of a public hearing had been offered.
Supervisor Breslawski says he has stated and the Town Board agrees, that the proposed site is the only available site on town property for the library.
“There is no other site that has frontage,” he says. “The grant has been approved on that site. Every other area on town property is currently used for recreation and parks fields. None of those areas have good access for vehicle parking or pedestrians. The area behind the town hall is used both for recreational fields as well as the site of the annual Hamlin Wheelfest. The Town Board has made it clear they do not want to remove land that is already being used from its existing purpose to construct a library. The proposed site is the only place on town property that currently is not being utilized.”
If the library application to the Planning Board needs to be signed by him, Supervisor Breslawski says he will sign it. “It would have been a simple oversight,” he says.
“I find it curious that the Planning Board has had the application before them since mid-December and this is the first time it has been mentioned that there is no signature,” he said.
In regards to the grant timeline, Supervisor Breslawski says the project may have until 2015 to be completed, but it must be started within six months of award or the grant goes back to the state.
“If the library is put on hold for an extended period of time, it could push the construction to be split between two construction seasons,” Supervisor Breslawski adds. “Estimates are that this could increase construction costs by 10 to 25 percent. Obviously this would blow our budget out of the water.”
Hopes had been to have the new library ready for occupancy this December, Breslawski says.
“Also, we are facing another five percent increase in rent at our current facility this coming January,” he explains. “Added to that will be an undetermined increase in commons fees for care of the parking lot and other common portions of the property. This will cost taxpayers additional money. We also are currently on a month-to-month basis with the landlord, so we could be replaced in that spot at any time.”
The library is a fairly simple project, he says. “Very straightforward and easy to understand. It’s clearly turned into something political and the townspeople see right through it and are disgusted with the opposition.”
Lara Schuler has three young children and uses the library frequently. She has been very involved in the community support effort and organized the demonstration April 1. She says library construction supporters feel strongly that the town must build the library now, when the town has been awarded a $466,000 state grant.
“We need to show the kids we care,” she says. “It’s really important.”
Schuler says library plans meet the town code and a new library is just the kind of resource the town needs, “… to attract new families … people who will be paying taxes for 30 or 40 years.”
She also noted the parking area for the current library site is not safe – situated between a bar and pizza parlor traffic. The current facility can no longer accommodate participation in special programing, which has grown exponentially in recent years, she adds, like the summer reading program. “I just cannot keep quiet about it,” she says.
Library Director Kay Hughes-Dennett says the outpouring of support from the community over the past several weeks has been amazing.
“It’s a really, really good community,” she says and adds that she always, “…. meets somebody new,” who has come out to support the library at the various meetings held about the issue.
