The Town of Brookhaven has hired a former Brookhaven Town Supervisor and former federal prosecutor to explore possible legal action against the Village of Bellport, it was announced at a press conference Tuesday.
Mark Lesko, who attended the press conference at Brookhaven Town Hall, said he will look at all of the town’s options, including possibly filing a lawsuit against the Village to ensure that all Town of Brookhaven residents have access to village-owned Ho Hum Beach on Fire Island.
Those options include asking New York State Attorney General Leticia James to investigate the Village’s actions in restricting access to the Village-owned ferry to Ho Hum Beach to village residents, summer renters and their guests.
“We’re very open to compromise here,” Lesko said following the press conference. “We’re very open to discussion.”
Lesko is a partner at Greenberg Traurig law firm and former federal prosecutor. He was Brookhaven Town Supervisor from 2009 to September 2012 when he resigned to become executive director of Accelerate Long Island, a nonprofit.
Brookhaven Town Supervisor Dan Panico said one of the questions the town intends to explore is whether federal funds were used to rebuild the boat dock at Ho Hum Beach, in which case it should be open to any vessels to dock there, including the water taxi the town has been using to take town residents who live outside Bellport Village to Ho Hum, Panico said.
The water taxi’s capacity is 25 people. The beach capacity is 300 people.
Panico also pointed to a resolution passed in 2018 by the Town Board at the request of the Village of Bellport, allowing the village to annex Ho Hum Beach on condition that it be open to all Town of Brookhaven residents, regardless of whether they live in Bellport Village.
On Saturday, the Town of Brookhaven began offering limited water taxi service for town residents to Ho Hum Beach. Village officials have ticketed the water taxi when it tied up at the Ho Hum dock, Panico said.
Panico, who called it a matter of “inequality” and “an issue that is very dear to me,” raised the issue of expanding Ho Hum access at his inaugural address as town supervisor in January. He said he and Town Parks and Recreation Director Ed Morris met with Bellport Village officials, including Mayor Maureen Veitch to try to come to a resolution on the issue but no agreement was reached.
“All we simply asked for were a couple of dates,” for which the town could bring a water taxi to take passengers to Ho Hum Beach, Panico said.
The Town offered to pick up the cost of operating the water taxi and to pay a non-resident fee for residents to use the beach, he said.
“I have nothing personal against the mayor,” Panico said. “I like the mayor.”
Veitch in a statement sent to News 12 said “Panico chooses media stunts over coordinating with Village leadership and has not responded to my attempts to reach him to meet and work out a path forward.”
The beach facilities, village ferry and docks “are paid for and maintained by village residents via additional taxes and fees,” Veitch said in her statement. “We routinely welcome non-resident guests to the beach in a planned and safe manner, such as the 40 members of the Boys & Girls Club of the Greater Bellport Area who visited the beach last week.”
The village pays the town about $80,000 annually to provide lifeguards at Ho Hum, in addition to a $4,000 administrative fee, Veitch said.
Longtime North Bellport resident Khadija Yanni was enjoying Ho Hum Beach with her daughter and grandchildren Tuesday afternoon. They took the town water taxi to the beach. It was the first time Yanni, who moved to Bellport in 2001 had been to Ho Hum.
“I appreciate this,” she said. “I like the ocean. My kids love the ocean. This is something we weren’t going to miss,” she said.
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