When a pipe burst in the sprinkler system in the Southold Town Hall meeting room in the middle of this winter’s deep freeze, every town department and committee that uses that room was sent scrambling to find a new place to meet.
Nowhere was this felt more deeply than the town’s Justice Court, which meets Wednesdays and Fridays. Like many other town meetings, Justice Court moved to the auditorium in the Peconic Lane Community Center, a former school the town purchased in 2008 that has been used primarily for recreation programs and as an emergency shelter.
After several months of this temporary arrangement, the Town Board discussed the possibility of dedicating the building entirely to the Justice Court at its April 21 work session, but by the board’s May 5 work session appeared to have soured on the idea, after hearing an opinion from the town’s engineering consultant that it would cost more to renovate the space than to build new.
Southold Town, like several other East End municipalities, has struggled to meet state requirements for its Justice Court, many of which involve security and private spaces for justices, records and for attorneys to meet with clients.
Southold has already embarked on a plan to build a new police station adjacent to its existing police station, on the Main Road just west of Peconic Lane, and then tearing down the existing police station building a new Justice Court on the property, after years of considering other options, including using the Community Center as a court.
The town agreed to purchase the property to the west of its police station from attorney Scott DeSimone for $525,000 in 2023 for the purpose of a justice/police complex there, and Mr. DeSimone has relocated the house on that lot to the north of the property that was sold to the town.
Town Engineer Michael Collins, along with Town Justices Eileen Powers and Dan Ross, first discussed the proposal to use the Community Center as a Justice Court at the Town Board’s April 21 work session.
“It’s never been discussed as a single-use building,” Mr. Collins told the board. “The building would be locked and unable to be used for any other purpose.”
“If it’s a single use building, it will be infinitely more secure than what we have now,” said Ms. Powers. “Obviously, it’s not perfect. There are security issues. We would have to do things like clear the hallways to allow the justices to pass through, but otherwise there’s enough space.”
Ms. Powers said one of the classrooms could be used for jury overflow when picking a jury, and other classrooms could be dedicated so the town attorney could conference with people.
The Town Board was initially receptive to the idea.
“When we bought that building, there was an opportunity to buy it, and we thought ‘we’ll use it in some fashion,'” said Town Supervisor Al Krupski. “Let’s look into it.”
Mr. Collins got the board’s permission to work with an architect or engineer to “design basic floor plans before we go any further.”
He returned to the board’s May 5 meeting with an opinion from an architect at L.K. McLean Associates that it would cost $4.6 million to renovate the Community Center for use as a court, while it would cost $4 million to build a new Justice Court. He said that opinion was provided free of charge as L.K. McLean works on plans for renovating the Town Hall Annex.
“They didn’t want to go through this exercise just to have us kill it,” he said. “Is it possible — yes. Would it be a smart decision — no.”
Mr. Krupski, unhappy with the report, suggested the town get a second opinion, but Mr. Collins and Councilwoman Jill Doherty, who has been very involved with the police/court complex project, both balked.
“Two weeks ago, when you wanted to go through with this, I respected that,” Ms. Doherty said to Mr. Krupski, who became supervisor in 2024 after more than a decade as a Suffolk County Legislator. “You weren’t here when we went through this. I don’t see where this makes any sense. The new building is in a great location, and it will be good for at least 50 years. You can ask engineering companies all over until you get the result you want, but taxpayer money will go farther with a new building.”
“I disagree,” said Mr. Krupski, who added that the town didn’t have a problem with adaptive reuse of the school as a community center, or of the former Southold Savings Bank as a Town Hall Annex.
“It’s not surprising to me that you can turn a school into a community center — those are analogous uses,” countered Councilwoman Kate Stevens, an architect.
“We’d be better off knocking it down and starting over. That would be easier than making the entire structure compliant,” said Mr. Collins.
Councilwoman Anne Smith added that any serious discussion about making the Community Center a dedicated court would have to involve the town’s Recreation Department, which is a major user of the building.
“It is used well by the community. I would hesitate to undo everything it’s currently being used for,” she said. “It’s a very beautiful and flexible space… We didn’t ask the Recreation Department. If we were going to take the next step, that would be the next conversation.”
Ms. Doherty said the town had initially bought the building with parks and playground block grant funding, and she wasn’t sure if the building could even legally be used as a court.
“We can waste more taxpayer money, hire another architect and another, and it will just take more money and more time,” she said. “If we continue to ask Mike to do this, he cannot work on the projects he has. He’s put off some of the things he’s working on at the police station because he’s been going off on this little project, for the third time.”
“I’ve got nothing left on this. This is my third time coming around trying to make a decision on building a new court,” said Mr. Collins. “There are no more buildings to look at and no more land to buy. I’m really frustrated.”
Town Office Shuffle
At the April 21 work session, Mr. Collins also asked the board to for guidance on its long-term plan to rearrange town offices in the Town Hall Annex — the former Southold Savings Bank on the corner of the Main Road and Youngs Avenue.
It’s work that was part of a 10-year bond, most of which has not yet been spent, even though the town bonded the money eight years ago, he said.
The town purchased the building for $3.1 million in 2018, after renting office space there for years, using money from a $5.5 million bond that included money to renovate the building.
The town has put a new roof on the Annex, and has removed “all asbestos with the exception of heating and cooling areas,” said Mr. Collins.
He said the current plan is to move the Town Clerk’s office from Town Hall to the bank lobby space in the Annex, putting public ADA accessible bathrooms and conference rooms in that space, which is now rarely used.
After the space is reconfigured, there would be no public assess to the offices of the town’s land use boards, which are primarily on the second floor of the Annex, but representatives from those offices would come downstairs when called to meet with members of the public in the conference rooms.
The town has already locked the doors to both the upstairs office and the building department as part of a series of security updates made last year.
The Town Attorney’s office would then move into the Clerk’s office in Town Hall, said Mr. Collins, giving the Building Department room to expand in the Annex, and moving the Zoning Board of Appeals into part of the Town Attorney space.
“There have been so many different iterations of this — that’s why nothing’s been done,” said Councilwoman Jill Doherty. “Every other month there’s a new idea.”
“We need to be zeroing in on something doable,” said Councilwoman Anne Smith.
“And functional,” said Mr Krupski.
“It makes sense to do the public facing spaces first,” said Ms. Suess.
The Town Board voted April 21 to hire a LK McLean Associates to draw up floor plans for the renovation of the former bank space, at a cost of $5,950. Mr. Collins said those floor plans will become the basis for a bid package for the work.
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