Visitors center pitched for old highway barn site

Does Shelter Island need a “welcome center” with public restrooms on Route 114?

Sean McLean, president of the Shelter Island Chamber of Commerce, pitched just such a plan to the Town Board in hopes of tapping into an annual community development block grant to help pay for the project. A public hearing on how the town should spend its annual allotment of $16,000 was held during the November 12 Town Board meeting.

The chamber wants to build the welcome center on town land — the old Highway Department barn site on South Ferry Road. Mr. McLean said that chamber members have been eyeing the project for years.

“It’s something we feel will serve all of the community here,” Mr. McLean said. “We think it will be a great amenity to have on Shelter Island.”

The community development grant, federal money administered by Suffolk County, can only be spent on projects that serve low to moderate income residents and in the recent past has funded handicap ramps, improvements to the Wades Beach bathhouse and a heating and air-conditioning system for the senior center. Mr. McLean said that all of Shelter Island should qualify for the grant because full-time residents have the lowest median income in Suffolk County.

Councilwoman Chris Lewis, who works with county administrators to award the town’s eligible projects, said that a portion of the 2011 grant is earmarked for upgrades to the kitchen in the town Senior Activity Center beneath the Medical Center. The kitchen, which has been used to prepare meals for senior citizens in the Silver Circle adult day care program, was found to be in violation of Suffolk County food service rules in 2009. Most of the necessary improvements will be paid from a 2010 grant but more money may be needed to complete the job next year, Ms. Lewis said.

Mr. McLean proposed 1,600 square feet of building space for the welcome center, a conference room and storage for the Chamber of Commerce, public restrooms, as well as parking for 15 to 20 vehicles. A computer terminal that only accesses the chamber’s website would be available to visitors, along with maps and other information. He said the welcome center would be the physical address for the chamber, using about 1/4 acre of the town property.

The cost of such a project will likely exceed $16,000. Councilman Ed Brown asked how that would be covered.

“We would be willing to match you 2 to 1. We’d put in $32,000.”

“That many square feet would cost more like $100,000,” Mr. Brown said.

“I think we could do it for substantially less,” Mr. McLean responded, about $40 per square foot.

The chamber would staff the welcome center and take responsibility for its maintenance, although Mr. McLean asked that the town help with cleaning the facility.

Mr. Brown praised the chamber for being proactive.

“We need to do something to continue to drive business,” Mr. McLean said. “Tourism is the way money is spent here.”

The board adopted a resolution proposing that the community development grant be designated “for necessary repairs to the kitchen at the senior center to serve meals on site as well as to a potential welcome facility for the Chamber of Commerce serving all the residents of Shelter Island.”

On Tuesday, board members expressed concerns about the plan. There are issues with reclaiming the pond on the property, Ms. Lewis said.  “This is a little more complicated than just a desire to do it and finding the money.”

Peter Reich said that when the highway barn was moved, the Town Board’s intent was to hold on to the property for future town use.

“It’s very difficult, I think, to conceptualize what he’s talking about,” Glenn Waddington commented.