Zoning Fight Yields Court Nod to Libraries as Educational Institutions

June 7, 2011

A decision by the New York State Supreme Court branch in Suffolk County has vindicated the East Hampton Library board in its quest to get zoning variances for a 6,800-foot addition to the present facility. It has also reaffirmed in case law that public libraries in the state of New York are undeniably educational institutions—a function that the town zoning commission had disputed in court for eight years in its attempt to block the library’s construction of a Children’s Wing.

The May 17 decision agrees, in essence, that the zoning board’s stance was “arbitrary, capricious, and irrational as it is unsupported by the record,” and that the zoning board had wrongly maintained its assertion despite documentation from the New York State Department of Education affirming libraries’ educational function. In his ruling, New York State Supreme Court Justice Thomas F. Whelan detailed East Hampton Library’s 1897 founding by the University of the State of New York, which automatically makes it an educational institution under state law. Justice Whelan went on to write (PDF file), “Religious and educational institutions are recognized as facilitating the same objectives as zoning ordinances, namely, fostering the public health, safety, morals and general welfare of the community,” and ordered the zoning board to grant the necessary construction permits for the privately funded $4-million addition.

During the protracted court battle, library plaintiffs had accused members of the posh community of having “exclusionary and discriminatory motives” for the zoning battle: namely, to discourage disadvantaged residents in neighboring communities within the library service area from beginning to frequent East Hampton Library once it had expanded.

“The library staff, library board and I are thrilled with this decision and with the affirmation that libraries are educational institutions,” said East Hampton Library Director Dennis Fabiszak, noting that the ruling saves other New York public libraries from undergoing such pricey litigation to prove the same point. The lawsuit cost East Hampton Library a total of almost $500,000.

East Hampton Library had the support of the New York Library Association, the Suffolk Cooperative Library System, the Library Trustees Association of New York, and the Long Island Library Resource Council.“The New York Library Association was pleased to be part of the amicus curiae brief in this case and delighted that the court recognized the obvious,” said NYLA Executive Director Michael J. Borges. “Libraries are centers of learning in their communities for people of all ages and perhaps the legal affirmation of this role will hopefully lead state policymakers to consider us as such for funding purposes.”

The village has said that it will not appeal the court’s decision, which clears the way for the Robert A. M. Stern design to become a reality. Besides adding children’s and teen spaces, the library will gain a meeting room.

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