Nat recalled buying his wife a Kindle. “She never used it. She said, ‘I can’t turn the pages. I can’t go back to check facts.’”
Her nephew, Jamin Dershowitz, recalled driving up to Phoenicia with his cousins. “On the way up, we always stopped at the library to pick up and drop off books. My daughter is a hard-core science person. Marilyn nurtured her into reading. She was an inclusive, community-oriented person.”
Library assistant Deborah Spivack remembered Marilyn and Nat arriving at the library, still in their business suits, on Friday evenings.
The library will still be called the Phoenicia Library, but the new structure will have a sign that says, “Marilyn Dershowitz Memorial Building.”
“It’s a quirky little library,” observed Ffrench, noting that patrons can already check out fishing rods and will soon be able to borrow ukuleles, donated by Phil and Barbara Mansfield. “People search for jobs on our computers, and the library is used for tutoring and homeschooling,” Ffrench added. “It’s more than storage for books — it’s a community center, where people meet up.”
Variance at issue
Library board member Bernie Handzel was optimistic that the planning board permission would go through on Wednesday. “We have been before them several times already. A lot of questions were asked, and more will be asked, about the site plan. We feel we have all the answers covered.”
The last step will be to obtain a building permit. The only other obstacle is the neighbors’ lawsuit.
The renovation plans include an expansion jutting 24 feet into the rear of the lot for a community meeting space, and the addition of a seven-foot-wide ramp and elevator on one side of the building for wheelchair access, extending into an already narrow alleyway. Marietta Hofmeister and Wilfried Nolte, the neighbors on either side, have objected to the larger footprint, asserting that the library has not proved the “hardship” which would justify a variance to allow the expansion to exceed size limitations imposed by zoning regulations.
The zoning board of appeals has accepted the library board’s contention that the variance is justified by the need to satisfy American Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations in order to renovate and the 80 percent increase in library usage over the past 10 years.
At the zoning board meeting in December, Hofmeister’s son, Eric, who is also the Shandaken highway superintendent, observed that servicing the new addition would require standing on the neighbor’s property. If the board grants these variances, he said, they are giving permission for people to trespass on the neighbor’s property. He also asserted that during a flood, the wheelchair ramp would block the alleyway, contributing to flooding on Main Street and placing adjacent buildings in peril.
The zoning board approved the library plans by a vote of 3-1. Hofmeister and Nolte have filed suit against the Town of Shandaken contesting the ruling. The case is expected to be resolved by mid-May, around the same time as construction is projected to begin.
The suit does not impact the library’s ability to receive a building permit and begin to build. If the ruling strikes down the zoning board’s decision, the extension will not be built, but the rest of the renovation may proceed, assuming that ADA requirements could somehow be met.
