AMHERST — An exact reopening date for the North Amherst Library branch, undergoing a $1.7 million expansion project to make the building accessible and provide patrons bathrooms for the first time, remains unknown, but is expected sometime this fall.

Despite closing the temporary space that was used for more than a year at the North Square in the Mill District in early September, library staff have not yet been able to get the materials back into the 1893 building.

Jones Library Director Sharon Sharry recently told the Library Buildings and Facilities Committee that the certificate of occupancy has not yet been issued and that roof repairs need to be completed. Sharry said the wheelchair lift also hasn’t yet been approved for use.

“We can’t do any work within the building without a certificate of occupancy,” said George Hicks-Richards, the library’s facilities supervisor.

The addition to the town-owned building, being funded by a private anonymous donor, will make the branch handicapped accessible and will also have a meeting room for 40 to 45 people, and public bathrooms. Wright Builders of Northampton is overseeing the construction.

Town Manager Paul Bockelman said the seams on the roof had to be redone, though he still expects a ribbon cutting within a month. The project had a ceremonial groundbreaking in June 2022. Bockelman said there was no specific timeline for when the project would be complete, though much of the interior and exterior work, including the parking lot and removal of a neighboring service station building, is done.

Sharry said once the certificate of occupancy is in hand, she anticipates staff, who are working at the main branch on a temporary basis, will have to spend a few weeks preparing for the reopening.

“Staff would like a month to get everything back in and organized,” she said.

That includes putting a new circulation desk in place, which has still not arrived, and information technology work.

Staff will also have to figure out how to arrange items, as not everything can return to where it had been in the building.

“Because of this renovation it did shrink shelving,” Hicks-Richards said. “It’s not like they can come back and put everything where it was.”

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.