Sometimes, it takes a sunny day with lunch on a pretty restaurant porch to come up with solutions.

The Ho-Hum Beach issue has been resolved with the Town of Brookhaven.

“We had a wide-ranging discussion about the village,” said Brookhaven Town supervisor Dan Panico, of his lunch at Porters on the Lane with Bellport mayor Maureen Veitch. “The mayor thanked me for pushing PSE&G along, to make sure the new solar panels were installed at Ho-Hum Beach. We spoke about everything, including the upcoming Bellport election, The Gateway and North Bellport.”

Last August, the town sent H2O Taxi Service to the marina, a gesture encouraging North Bellport residents to utilize Ho-Hum Beach. Panico and parks commissioner Ed Morris had invited residents to register online for free Ho-Hum Beach ferry passes for several days and times, and provided a bus for those intending to go, from Kreamer Street Middle School to the marina.

The village wasn’t notified; paddleboard and sailing events were occurring on the first day.

Was the water taxi service off the table?

“That’s correct,” Panico said. “We’ll try a different way. I have no intention of running a town-sponsored ferry.”

Also, the town’s threatened lawsuit was moot.

“We never initiated a lawsuit,” Panico said. “I have no desire for litigation. We sat together for over an hour and a half, and I believe we’ve come to a much better place to provide better results for everyone all around.

“What we are going to do this year is work to sponsor a Boys & Girls Club [of the Bellport Area] trip to Ho-Hum in collaboration with the mayor and the village. We pleasantly agreed to work together in the future,” he said.

Panico said Veitch initiated the meeting.

“She reached out to me; I told her it was a good idea, and we set a date.”

Panico grew up in Mastic.

“I know what it’s like for these kids,” he said. “At times, we all take for granted what we have and to get places we live near. Island access to the water is one of the benefits. Maureen and I agree we’ll go with the sponsorship the village provides. It’s a starting-off point.”

Right now, the number of trips is still being decided, Veitch said.

Last year, the village assumed they would sponsor two days of trips for the Boys & Girls Club of the Bellport Area, anticipating a turnout of 80 to 100 students, but only 40 signed up, she said.

“The signup hasn’t happened yet,” said Veitch of this year. “Usually, it’s one or two trips.”

Veitch discussed the village’s kids camp with Panico. “He didn’t realize we run a half-day camp in July and the youngsters come from all over Brookhaven Town, not just Bellport Village. Also, some portions of the group are taken over to Ho-Hum.

“The Boys and Girls Club has different programs, so a trip to the beach usually fits into their curriculum that’s sometimes fun and sometimes part of an educational program. That’s why we do ours with them in August,” she said.

The village had a South Country School District science class scheduled during the ferry’s off time this past week, but its starter conked out, she said.

Veitch said she wanted to work well with the county and the town and approached the lunch in a bipartisan manner.

“I didn’t want to have the upcoming summer season without an understanding with him [Panico]. We put this behind us and are working together.”

Both also attended Gateway’s cocktail party last week and pledged to help the nonprofit.

Veitch said the village hired a very good lawyer regarding last year’s incident. “That money was helpful, and we had a better understanding of property rights,” she said.

But she stressed, “The town is good to Bellport. We have an intermunicipal agreement with the fire marshal service. And many of the things the village does affects residents outside the village, including our senior program, where half of the participants are non-residents, as well as the kids camp, which is probably the cheapest one within 20 miles.”