Bellport Village's rules to access Fire Island's Ho-Hum Beach 'absurd,' Brookhaven Supervisor says

When her three children were young, Regina Crawford would take them to beaches in Shirley, Patchogue and East Islip, each about 20 minutes from their North Bellport home.

They would never make the four-minute drive down Station Road to Bellport Village and take the ferry to Ho-Hum Beach on Fire Island.

Ho-Hum was, and still is, off-limits to Crawford. The village-owned beach is open only to Bellport property owners and their guests, including summer renters. 

“I’ve never been there,” Crawford said, “and I’ve lived here since 2007.”

Crawford and her neighbors in the predominantly Hispanic and Black hamlet could one day have a chance to soak in the rays at Ho-Hum.

First-term Brookhaven Supervisor Dan Panico, in his inaugural address last week at Brookhaven Town Hall, said he plans to ask Bellport Village officials to open the beach to all town residents, including those in North Bellport. Panico, a Republican, called the village's beach access rules “absurd.”

Ho-Hum is the only Fire Island beach with such restrictions, said Suzy Goldhirsch, president of the Fire Island Association civic group.

Panico said opening the beach to non-village residents would narrow at least some of the racial and economic divide in what he called “one of the most de facto segregated communities on Long Island.”

“I’m no different, you’re no different than the children and families of North Bellport, and they deserve a means by which to enjoy this island and go to the beach,” Panico, who is white, told hundreds of town officials and invited guests at the ceremony. “Although the community of North Bellport may not look like me, or some of you, with regard to our skin tone, we must be better as a community as a whole because we are one town.”

Panico said Thursday the town would help pay village costs associated with expanding beach access.

Bellport Mayor Maureen Veitch, who attended Panico's swearing-in, told Newsday she was “taken aback” by his proposal, but she did not rule out reaching a deal with the town.

“That was the first time I was hearing about it,” Veitch said Tuesday in a prepared statement. “I welcome a dialogue with the supervisor.”

She declined to comment further.

Bellport and North Bellport are a study in contrasts.

Well-heeled summer renters and day-trippers flock to Bellport for its chic art galleries and pubs, as well as the village's marina — and the beach.

North Bellport, despite recent redevelopment that has added new multifamily housing, is pockmarked with stores that have stood empty for decades.

North Bellport's 12,000 residents are 39.8% Hispanic, 23.2% Black and had a median household income of $89,026, according to 2020 Census figures. 

Bellport, with a population of 1,957, was 91.6% white, 2.25% Hispanic and 1.07% Black, and had a 2021 median household income of $126,250, according to the datausa website.

Ho-Hum Beach, located between Smith Point County Park to the east and the National Park Service's Watch Hill to the west, can be reached only by private boat and the village ferry. 

Generally it is open only to village residents and their guests, but people renting summer homes may go there with a village pass, which costs $525 annually per family and also permits access to village tennis and golf facilities, according to the Bellport government website.

Village property owners and pass-holders pay less than guests to use the village ferry. Weekend ferry rates last summer were $14 for adults who own property or hold passes, and $20 for guests. Rates for this year were not available.

Nonresident property owners also are allowed on the beach, said LuAnn Thompson, co-president of the Bellport Chamber of Commerce. Thompson said she lives in East Patchogue but is allowed to use Ho-Hum because she owns the land at her South Country Road business, Bellport Arts and Framing Center.

She opposes Panico's proposal, adding that beach access is a “privilege” that should be reserved for Bellport taxpayers. Other town residents can go there as guests of village residents, she said. 

“They're not paying the taxes,” Thompson said of non-village residents. “I pay a lot of taxes to the village government. It's our private beach.”

Some Bellport residents supported Panico's plan, saying it would open Ho-Hum to underprivileged children and their families.

“Some of them have never even seen the water,” said Dana Nardi, recalling South Country school district classmates from East Patchogue and North Bellport who weren't allowed at Ho-Hum.

“All the kids who go to school together couldn't go to the beach together,” she said.

Brookhaven NAACP president Georgette Grier-Key called Panico’s proposal “a plus,” adding she goes to beaches in Patchogue and Bay Shore, “and that’s not right.”

“There shouldn’t be that special access for some but not for all,” said Grier-Key, who lives in Bellport but is not a village resident. “Does he mean it? I don’t know. We’ll see when it happens.”

Laura Harding, president of Syosset anti-discrimination nonprofit ERASE Racism, said issues such as housing in low-income areas might be more important, but opening Ho-Hum to minority residents was "something more than symbolic."

“I can’t think of anything that would lead me to say, hmm, that might not be a good idea,” Harding said Sunday. 

“These are the types of things that need to happen across Long Island where people understand that opening up places that historically skewed white, it’s a benefit for people across the board,” Harding said. “The only way we’re going to get to know each other … is if we spend time together.”

Joann Neal, a North Bellport civic leader, said she would consider taking her grandchildren to Ho-Hum if the rules were changed.

Panico is “trying to say … we want to work with everybody,” said Neal, who with Crawford is co-chair of the Greater Bellport Coalition. “Which is nice. I want to work with him.”

Crawford said opening Ho-Hum to town residents would be “a huge step forward” for minorities who feel uncomfortable visiting some predominantly white areas like Bellport. Brookhaven also has large Black and Hispanic communities such as Coram, Gordon Heights and Port Jefferson Station.

“Who wants to feel like they don’t belong anywhere?” said Crawford, who is Black. “It’s so important for residents to feel like they’re part of the larger society.”

By Carl MacGowan

carl.macgowan@newsday.comCarlMacGowan

Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.