Library’s east wing renovation goes to Site Plan Review

Members of the Village of Freeport’s Site Plan Review Board held a public hearing Monday evening on a proposed renovation and restoration project for the 21 windows in the Freeport Memorial Library’s historic east wing. The project, slated to begin in the spring of 2016, will include replacing 12 windows as well as restoring the 11 divided pane windows in the library’s Beaux Arts building. The hearing had been adjourned from Oct. 27 because the Site Plan Review Board “asked us to submit better renderings for the windows that will be restored,” Kenneth Bellafiore, Freeport Memorial Library director, explained.

    The board is considering two options for the historic windows. The first option is a full restoration of the six-over-six paned windows. They will be scraped, sanded and painted. The storm windows will be removed and the frames will be painted with a “high grade marine-based paint for protection,” Bellafiore said in a previous interview with The Leader.

    The second option is to replace the historic windows with true light divided pane windows and to replace the sash with mahogany wood. There would be six-over-six panes for each window.

    Commissioner Greg Abbate asked if the windows for option two were historically accurate.

    “Yes,” Bellafiore said. “It’s called 1900 glass. It’s a wavy glass and is a low-e insulated glass so that we don’t have to put the storm windows back. It will be more reflective of the original intent of the building.”

    But Pietrina Reda, chair of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, asked if it was within in the board’s purview to determine “if the [proposed new] windows are historically accurate. Did you have someone to look at this?”

    Regina Feeney, a member of the Freeport Landmark’s Commission and the Freeport Historical Society as well as a librarian and archivist for the Freeport Memorial Library, provided board members with a brief history of the Freeport Memorial Library’s east wing.