Stony Brook School receives Brookhaven Town approval for new dormitory
Dan Hickey, director of advancement, stands at the soon-to-be-demolished Johnston Hall on the grounds of The Stony Brook School on Wednesday. Credit: Newsday/Steve Pfost
Construction is expected to start this spring on a new dormitory at the private Stony Brook School after school officials dropped plans for an indoor athletic facility that drew opposition from neighboring residents.
The project — which also will include new administration and educational buildings — cleared its final hurdle Monday when the Brookhaven Town Planning Board voted 6-0 to approve plans for construction and landscaping.
School officials last fall canceled plans for a fourth building — a 46-foot-high, 35,000-square-foot indoor sports practice facility that residents said would be too tall for the neighborhood. Residents did not object to the dormitory or the administration and academic buildings.
School officials said they plan to instead renovate an existing indoor sports field after building the dormitory.
The new 52-bed dormitory, to be called Daley Hall, will enable the school to expand on-campus housing from 210 to 222, school officials have said. Total enrollment at the 102-year-old school on Chapman Parkway is 460 students in grades 7-12.
A STEAM (science, technology, engineering, aeronautics, math) academic building will be built on the site of an existing dormitory, Johnston Hall, which will be torn down after Daley Hall is completed, said Eric J. Russo, of Sayville, a lawyer for the school.
Construction of Daley Hall should be finished by September 2025, Russo said.
Offices currently located in buildings throughout campus will be consolidated in the new administration building, he said.
Head of school Joshua Crane said Tuesday in an email he was grateful to town officials for approving the project.
Crane said the school "will be even better positioned to prepare Long Island students and those from across the globe for the world that awaits them as a result of these projects."
The campus, nestled in a residential neighborhood near Stony Brook University, includes students from Long Island and about 25 countries, director of advancement Dan Hickey said Wednesday.
Charles Tramontana, president of the Three Village Civic Association, saluted school officials for listening to the community's concerns about the practice field, adding the school was "a great neighbor."
“We understood their needs," Tramontana said Tuesday. "The way they responded — we wish that everybody would listen to the community in that manner.”
Anne Ryan, 74, a neighbor who had objected to the indoor field, said school officials met with residents last fall to hear their concerns, and again last week to outline the school's building plans. The school also agreed to add new sidewalks so that students don't have to walk in neighborhood streets, she said.
“They did definitely address the community’s concerns,” Ryan said Tuesday, adding the construction plan "seemed to make perfect sense. Hopefully, at this point, we can live in harmony together.”
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.
