State grant funding repairs at Peconic Lane Community Center

Improvements to the facade at the Peconic Lane Community Center in Southold are underway.

A $50,000 grant secured by State Senator Ken LaValle (R-Port Jefferson) will help make crucial repairs to the exterior woodworking and gutters on the building, according to town government liaison Denis Noncarrow.

Town engineering officials suspected lead contamination in the exterior paint as well as deteriorating wood conditions due to water damage.

“The gutters were actually overflowing in different areas into the woodwork, and this company is doing a nice job restoring it,” Mr. Noncarrow said last Thursday. “It’s such a great old building and we want to keep it as original as possible.”

In addition to repairing the building’s fascia and mitigating the lead paint, a team from DiMaria Painting & Carpentry, Inc. is also restoring wood work and repairing some copper gutters.

Any funds leftover will be used to replace windows that are also starting to deteriorate, officials said.

The Peconic Lane Community Center had been used as a schoolhouse up until the early 1980s and was acquired by Southold Town in 2008. 

The facility, while currently closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, hosts a multitude of programs for the town’s recreation department and is used by local nonprofit, civic and youth groups. Grant funding is being administered by the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York and the project is expected to wrap up by November.