Medford, Shirley library projects get boost with $20,000 state construction grant

The delay-plagued reconstruction of the Shirley library is on track to be completed by next summer, a library official said Monday.

Work to rebuild the Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library's main branch on William Floyd Parkway has ramped up in recent months with the installation of exterior siding and framing on interior walls, library director Kerri Rosalia said, adding electrical and plumbing work is being finished.

“It’s really coming along and starting to take shape," she said. "Especially from the outside, it’s starting to look like a public library compared to months past.”

Last fall, construction had come to a virtual standstill because of slow deliveries of construction supplies, Rosalia had said then. Work also had been hampered by weak steel beam supports and the discovery that elevator shafts were too narrow to comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

The Shirley project, and another library project in Medford, received a boost last week when each was awarded a $20,000 state construction grant. The grants were announced by Assemb. Joe DeStefano (R-Medford).

Rosalia said the grant would help fund purchases of steel and other supplies that had not been anticipated when voters in December 2019 approved a $22.6 million bond to rebuild the main branch and construct new branches in Mastic Beach and Moriches. The Mastic Beach and Moriches branches opened earlier this year.

In Medford, a $5 million branch of the Patchogue-Medford Public Library is under construction in an unused, 1-acre section of the Medford Athletic Complex. Construction is nearing completion, Brookhaven Town Councilman Michael Loguercio said Monday in a text message.

Officials have said the annex will improve service for residents in the northern reaches of the library district.

The state grant supplements funding for the project from Brookhaven Town, nonprofit Medford Hamlet Foundation and library capital funds, library director Danielle Paisley said in a statement released by DeStefano's office.

“The Medford Hamlet Foundation had enough money to provide for part of the cost, but we needed to dig deep to find other revenue sources to bridge the gap and make the library a reality,” she said.

DeStefano said in a statement the Medford branch would help residents in an area that has been underserved because of its distance from the library's main branch in downtown Patchogue, a 20- to 30-minute drive away.

“Medford is pretty far from the main library in Patchogue and they’ve been waiting for their own branch for quite awhile,” he said.

The 5,500-square-foot Medford annex is expected to include special sections for children and teenagers, as well as meeting rooms for use by community members.

By Carl MacGowan

carl.macgowan@newsday.comCarlMacGowan

Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.