SMITHFIELD — Mater Ecclesiae College got its wish last night when the Town Council approved a zoning change that will allow the small religious institution to add a library and gymnasium.

The vote was unanimous and was met by applause from the audience. None had spoken against the change of zone. Several spoke in favor of it, saying that the college, on Austin Avenue in Greenville, had been a good neighbor.

Daniel Stone, a lawyer representing Ocean Pastoral Center, the owner of the land, said the land, zoned for residential housing on two-acre lots, was acquired in 1995 when Ocean Pastoral bought out the former St. Aloysius orphanage. The college, a women’s seminary, has been operating under a special-use permit, but needed the zone shift, to planned development, in order to expand.

Stone said the school has 80 students and 40 faculty and staff members.

He said the school is seeking accreditation as a college, and that means it needs a library.

Additionally, he said, “the athletic facilities are antiquated.” He said the addition would mean basketball courts and a pool.

Councilwoman S. Jean Cerroni said she attended school on the site when it was known as St. Peter’s School, and said she cherished the memories.

Council President Stephen B. Archambault praised the presentation by Stone, calling the plans “well thought out.”

Stone said it was the school’s goal to award master of arts degrees in religious studies. He said if all goes well the new facilities will be ready at the end of the coming academic year.

When one neighbor, who said she was not opposed to the zone change, asked what would happen if in the future the college, now in a Planned Development zone that authorized various land uses, sold out to a developer.

“My client has no intention of doing anything else,” Stone replied, “but time changes.”

Archambault said that if some day a developer took over, that developer would “have to come right back here,” meaning any proposal to do anything different with the site would have to get approval from the council and from the Zoning Board of Review and the Planning Board. “There are safeguards in place,” he added.

Stone said that Planned Development districts allow a higher density than residential zones, but added, “it’s already adjacent to a PD.”

The library would measure 6,900 square feet. The gym would provide 32,000 square feet.

The request had the backing of the Planning Board and of Daniel R. Janousek, planning director. Janousek said in a written report that the zone change would not violate the town’s Comprehensive Plan and would be in “substantial compliance” with zoning regulations.

Jim Fair, communications director for the Legion of Christ, also known as Ocean Pastoral Center, the owner of the land, said on Friday that the library would hold about 50,000 books. Both new structures would be for the use of the students and faculty only, he said.

Faculty members are known as Consecrated Women, Fair said, and the students are studying to attain that status.

They are technically not nuns, he said, “but that’s the closest thing — these are women who dedicate their life to serving the church and Christ. They do youth work, counseling. Some are writers, some are teachers.

He said the college sits on 43.5 acres and consists of two main buildings. The site also has a baseball field, a football field, basketball and tennis courts, a picnic area, gardens and a historical cemetery.

Donald T. Burns, chairman of the Conservation Commission, urged the council to approve the request, saying the land had been “zoned incorrectly in the first place.” He said that since zoning came to town, the site had been occupied as a school under the special-use permit.

“We should let it continue as a school,” he said.

tmorgan@projo.com