Ho Hum Beach dispute on Fire Island hinges on land use and civil rights laws, experts say
People board the water taxi to Ho Hum Beach. Passengers are expected to take a Brookhaven Town shuttle to the Bellport marina, where they will board a town-chartered water taxi. Credit: Rick Kopstein
Shop windows along South Country Road in downtown Bellport are filled with T-shirts and trinkets bearing the name of Ho Hum Beach. Village residents refer to the wind-swept stretch of Fire Island as, simply, "our beach."
But over the summer, Ho Hum's bucolic image was rattled when it became the focus of a turf war over who should have access to the 16-acre beach: Bellport Village residents or everyone in Brookhaven Town.
Town officials say Bellport's rules effectively bar most town residents from going to Ho Hum Beach and only allow village residents and their summer renters. But Bellport officials say they are simply protecting the beach as a haven for village residents whose taxes pay for its upkeep.
The battle of the beach, which remains unresolved, hinges on complex legal issues involving land rights and equal access claims, legal experts told Newsday.
The issue may ultimately be decided in state or federal court, said New York University School of Law Professor Roderick M. Hills Jr., who specializes in local government law and land use regulations.
Bellport has a "plausible argument" that its residents should receive preference at the beach, but courts are more likely to side with the town, Hills said.
"If you’re a public village, you can’t keep outsiders out. They’re always trying to do it with beaches," Hills said. "The more direct argument is, 'Hey, village, you have a public trust. You can’t discriminate against nonresidents.' "
Brookhaven Supervisor Dan Panico said it is "troubling" to him that residents of neighboring North Bellport, many of them Black or Hispanic, cannot visit Ho Hum via a ferry that departs less than 10 minutes from their homes.
"If the beach is open to everyone ... then what is the issue?" Panico said.
Bellport's population of 1,844 is 95.7% white, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino and 1.6% Black, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2022 American Community Survey. North Bellport's 10,530 residents are 64.1% white, 39.8% Hispanic or Latino and 28.9% Black, the data shows. Those figures tally more than 100% because respondents are allowed to identify with more than one racial or ethnic group.
Bellport Mayor Maureen Veitch has said the village needs to curb beach access because it has limited sewage capacity.
In an interview with Newsday, Veitch said she was considering a way to allow nonresidents to visit the beach on days when there are fewer crowds.
"I always like to keep an open mind and an open dialogue," she said. "I think that’s smart for the town [and] smart for the village."
Despite its carefree name, Ho Hum Beach has been a bureaucratic paradox since 1963 when Bellport bought the property for $25,000 from Hattie Toffel of Lawrence and her business partner, Joseph Slifka of Manhattan, according to Brookhaven Town records.
Bellport owns the land, but the beach is outside the village's boundaries. Ho Hum is located on the Fire Island National Seashore, which includes all beach property on Fire Island along with the 613-acre William Floyd Estate in Mastic Beach.
That means Ho Hum is a public beach that should be open to anyone, not just Bellport Village residents, according to town and federal officials, as well as some legal experts.
"It is open to everyone," said Alexcy Romero, superintendent of Fire Island National Seashore, a 26-mile stretch of seashore that the National Park Service manages.
He declined to comment on the dispute but said Ho Hum is "a national park. It’s for public enjoyment, for everyone."
Legal experts say Ho Hum should be accessible to all because, like the rest of the national seashore, it receives federal aid. It is part of the federal government's $2.1 billion plan to replenish the dunes and beaches from Fire Island to Montauk Point.
That's notable, experts say, because Title VI of the 1964 federal Civil Rights Act bars discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin at facilities that receive federal funding. Facilities can lose their federal funding if they violate the law, according to the Department of Justice's website.
In August, the Republican-controlled Town of Brookhaven hired former federal prosecutor and ex-Supervisor Mark Lesko, a Democrat, to weigh legal action against Bellport. Lesko, who works for Greenberg Traurig LLP, said the town is "exploring all of our options."
The town is paying Lesko $350 per hour with no cap on his pay, Panico said. Lesko said the town has asked state Attorney General Letitia James to review the beach access issue.
A spokeswoman for James, Halimah Elmariah, said the office is "reviewing" the request.
Brookhaven officials say they are on solid footing for several reasons, citing the federal parkland issue and a 2018 town agreement that, town officials say, requires the beach to be open to all town residents.
That year, at Bellport's request, the town annexed — or transferred — Ho Hum to village control to resolve questions over whether Bellport could patrol its beach, according to town officials and Ray Fell, the former mayor of Bellport.
At the time, Bellport officials were unsure whether their code enforcement officers could patrol the beach because it was outside the village's boundary, Fell recalled.
Fell, who was mayor in 2018, said he asked Brookhaven to help resolve the issue. He had hoped to avoid calling in Suffolk County police to respond to issues at Ho Hum.
The town board passed a resolution in September 2018 formally placing Ho Hum in the village's legal jurisdiction, town records show. The state annexation law allows towns to attach uninhabited properties to neighboring villages when the property is otherwise outside the village's boundaries.
The town law also contained language that "assured" town residents would have "the continued use and benefit" of the beach, according to a copy of the resolution. That means the beach must be open to all town residents, Panico said.
Fell said he "never saw" the beach access language and "didn't even know it existed."
"It wasn’t the intention of the village of Bellport to open it up to [non-village] residents," he said. "It was the intention of the village of Bellport to [have the town annex the beach] so we didn’t have to get Suffolk County police involved."
Panico, who was a town councilman in 2018, said he "insisted" on adding the language to the agreement. For years, he said he was concerned that North Bellport residents had effectively been barred from the beach.
Bellport officials concede that anyone can go to Ho Hum.
But the only ferry that goes there — the 47-seat Whalehouse Point — is owned by the village, which restricts ridership to village residents, their guests and summer residents bearing a village-issued summer pass.
The passes cost $525 per summer for up to two adults and three children, and can be used at the village-owned golf and tennis club.
Bellport residents should have nearly exclusive access to the ferry, Veitch said. The village spent $214,506 last year to operate the beach and ferry, and generated $122,030 in revenue, including $18,750 from summer passes, according to village budget records.
"You have to be a village resident" to use the ferry, Veitch said in late August, shortly after the controversy erupted. "The captain’s salary, the staff over at the beach — fully funded by village taxpayers ... Frankly, I’m not allowed to give taxpayers’ amenities away. It would be illegal."
Town officials say the Bellport policy discriminates against North Bellport residents, who live a short drive down Station Road to the ferry dock. They can't go to Ho Hum unless a village resident has invited them.
Town officials say it's unreasonable to expect Brookhaven residents to walk to Ho Hum from other Fire Island destinations, such as Davis Park, which is about a four-mile trek. There are no cars or paved roads on Fire Island.
Town residents could pilot their own boats to Ho Hum, but it's unlikely they'd be allowed to dock at the village marina there, town officials said.
The ferry restrictions could violate federal civil rights laws, some legal experts said.
Hills cited the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, which bars discrimination in transportation, schools and other public facilities.
Hempstead civil rights lawyer Frederick K. Brewington said the ferry restrictions are "ominously similar" to Robert Moses building low overpasses on the Southern and Northern State parkways that prevented buses carrying minorities from reaching Long Island parks.
"That creates an interesting dilemma with regard to the potential for limiting transit," Brewington said. "It may actually raise a question of putting limitations on people’s ability to engage in free travel from one place to another in the United States."
The controversy reached a boiling point on Aug. 25 when Brookhaven chartered a water taxi to take up to 25 passengers per trip to and from the beach. The town paid H2O Limo, of Sayville, a total of $10,400 for five trips on four days in August and September, Panico said.
Bellport officials responded by issuing three tickets to H2O Limo for allegedly using the village's marinas in Bellport and Ho Hum without a permit.
Brookhaven officials referred questions to H2O Limo, which did not respond to requests for comment. Bellport officials have declined to comment on potential penalties or when the company is due in court.
Some think Brookhaven and Bellport should negotiate a compromise.
Brookhaven NAACP president Georgette Grier-Key rejected the idea of charging higher ferry rates to non-village residents. She said North Bellport residents, and others living in Brookhaven, should be treated the same as the village's taxpayers.
"Why would that be fair to us when we’re already Brookhaven Town residents and we pay taxes?" Grier-Key said. "I don’t think we should be penalized. ... We should pay exactly what the village residents pay."
Shop windows along South Country Road in downtown Bellport are filled with T-shirts and trinkets bearing the name of Ho Hum Beach. Village residents refer to the wind-swept stretch of Fire Island as, simply, "our beach."
But over the summer, Ho Hum's bucolic image was rattled when it became the focus of a turf war over who should have access to the 16-acre beach: Bellport Village residents or everyone in Brookhaven Town.
Town officials say Bellport's rules effectively bar most town residents from going to Ho Hum Beach and only allow village residents and their summer renters. But Bellport officials say they are simply protecting the beach as a haven for village residents whose taxes pay for its upkeep.
The battle of the beach, which remains unresolved, hinges on complex legal issues involving land rights and equal access claims, legal experts told Newsday.
WHAT TO KNOW
Town officials say Bellport is effectively barring town residents from accessing Ho Hum Beach. Bellport officials say they are protecting the beach for village residents who pay taxes to maintain it.
The Village of Bellport owns Ho Hum Beach, but it is outside the village's boundaries. Ho Hum is located on the Fire Island National Seashore, which is managed by the National Park Service.
Bellport Village spent $214,506 last year to operate the beach and ferry, and generated $122,030 in total revenue, documents show.
The issue may ultimately be decided in state or federal court, said New York University School of Law Professor Roderick M. Hills Jr., who specializes in local government law and land use regulations.
Bellport has a "plausible argument" that its residents should receive preference at the beach, but courts are more likely to side with the town, Hills said.
"If you’re a public village, you can’t keep outsiders out. They’re always trying to do it with beaches," Hills said. "The more direct argument is, 'Hey, village, you have a public trust. You can’t discriminate against nonresidents.' "
Brookhaven Supervisor Dan Panico said it is "troubling" to him that residents of neighboring North Bellport, many of them Black or Hispanic, cannot visit Ho Hum via a ferry that departs less than 10 minutes from their homes.
"If the beach is open to everyone ... then what is the issue?" Panico said.
Bellport's population of 1,844 is 95.7% white, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino and 1.6% Black, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2022 American Community Survey. North Bellport's 10,530 residents are 64.1% white, 39.8% Hispanic or Latino and 28.9% Black, the data shows. Those figures tally more than 100% because respondents are allowed to identify with more than one racial or ethnic group.
Bellport Mayor Maureen Veitch has said the village needs to curb beach access because it has limited sewage capacity.
In an interview with Newsday, Veitch said she was considering a way to allow nonresidents to visit the beach on days when there are fewer crowds.
"I always like to keep an open mind and an open dialogue," she said. "I think that’s smart for the town [and] smart for the village."
Land issues
Despite its carefree name, Ho Hum Beach has been a bureaucratic paradox since 1963 when Bellport bought the property for $25,000 from Hattie Toffel of Lawrence and her business partner, Joseph Slifka of Manhattan, according to Brookhaven Town records.
Bellport owns the land, but the beach is outside the village's boundaries. Ho Hum is located on the Fire Island National Seashore, which includes all beach property on Fire Island along with the 613-acre William Floyd Estate in Mastic Beach.
That means Ho Hum is a public beach that should be open to anyone, not just Bellport Village residents, according to town and federal officials, as well as some legal experts.
"It is open to everyone," said Alexcy Romero, superintendent of Fire Island National Seashore, a 26-mile stretch of seashore that the National Park Service manages.
He declined to comment on the dispute but said Ho Hum is "a national park. It’s for public enjoyment, for everyone."
Legal experts say Ho Hum should be accessible to all because, like the rest of the national seashore, it receives federal aid. It is part of the federal government's $2.1 billion plan to replenish the dunes and beaches from Fire Island to Montauk Point.
That's notable, experts say, because Title VI of the 1964 federal Civil Rights Act bars discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin at facilities that receive federal funding. Facilities can lose their federal funding if they violate the law, according to the Department of Justice's website.
In August, the Republican-controlled Town of Brookhaven hired former federal prosecutor and ex-Supervisor Mark Lesko, a Democrat, to weigh legal action against Bellport. Lesko, who works for Greenberg Traurig LLP, said the town is "exploring all of our options."
The town is paying Lesko $350 per hour with no cap on his pay, Panico said. Lesko said the town has asked state Attorney General Letitia James to review the beach access issue.
A spokeswoman for James, Halimah Elmariah, said the office is "reviewing" the request.
The 2018 agreement
Brookhaven officials say they are on solid footing for several reasons, citing the federal parkland issue and a 2018 town agreement that, town officials say, requires the beach to be open to all town residents.
That year, at Bellport's request, the town annexed — or transferred — Ho Hum to village control to resolve questions over whether Bellport could patrol its beach, according to town officials and Ray Fell, the former mayor of Bellport.
At the time, Bellport officials were unsure whether their code enforcement officers could patrol the beach because it was outside the village's boundary, Fell recalled.
Fell, who was mayor in 2018, said he asked Brookhaven to help resolve the issue. He had hoped to avoid calling in Suffolk County police to respond to issues at Ho Hum.
The town board passed a resolution in September 2018 formally placing Ho Hum in the village's legal jurisdiction, town records show. The state annexation law allows towns to attach uninhabited properties to neighboring villages when the property is otherwise outside the village's boundaries.
The town law also contained language that "assured" town residents would have "the continued use and benefit" of the beach, according to a copy of the resolution. That means the beach must be open to all town residents, Panico said.
Fell said he "never saw" the beach access language and "didn't even know it existed."
"It wasn’t the intention of the village of Bellport to open it up to [non-village] residents," he said. "It was the intention of the village of Bellport to [have the town annex the beach] so we didn’t have to get Suffolk County police involved."
Panico, who was a town councilman in 2018, said he "insisted" on adding the language to the agreement. For years, he said he was concerned that North Bellport residents had effectively been barred from the beach.
Taxpayer issue
Bellport officials concede that anyone can go to Ho Hum.
But the only ferry that goes there — the 47-seat Whalehouse Point — is owned by the village, which restricts ridership to village residents, their guests and summer residents bearing a village-issued summer pass.
The passes cost $525 per summer for up to two adults and three children, and can be used at the village-owned golf and tennis club.
Bellport residents should have nearly exclusive access to the ferry, Veitch said. The village spent $214,506 last year to operate the beach and ferry, and generated $122,030 in revenue, including $18,750 from summer passes, according to village budget records.
"You have to be a village resident" to use the ferry, Veitch said in late August, shortly after the controversy erupted. "The captain’s salary, the staff over at the beach — fully funded by village taxpayers ... Frankly, I’m not allowed to give taxpayers’ amenities away. It would be illegal."
Equal access claims
Town officials say the Bellport policy discriminates against North Bellport residents, who live a short drive down Station Road to the ferry dock. They can't go to Ho Hum unless a village resident has invited them.
Town officials say it's unreasonable to expect Brookhaven residents to walk to Ho Hum from other Fire Island destinations, such as Davis Park, which is about a four-mile trek. There are no cars or paved roads on Fire Island.
Town residents could pilot their own boats to Ho Hum, but it's unlikely they'd be allowed to dock at the village marina there, town officials said.
The ferry restrictions could violate federal civil rights laws, some legal experts said.
Hills cited the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, which bars discrimination in transportation, schools and other public facilities.
Hempstead civil rights lawyer Frederick K. Brewington said the ferry restrictions are "ominously similar" to Robert Moses building low overpasses on the Southern and Northern State parkways that prevented buses carrying minorities from reaching Long Island parks.
"That creates an interesting dilemma with regard to the potential for limiting transit," Brewington said. "It may actually raise a question of putting limitations on people’s ability to engage in free travel from one place to another in the United States."
Legal battle continues
The controversy reached a boiling point on Aug. 25 when Brookhaven chartered a water taxi to take up to 25 passengers per trip to and from the beach. The town paid H2O Limo, of Sayville, a total of $10,400 for five trips on four days in August and September, Panico said.
Bellport officials responded by issuing three tickets to H2O Limo for allegedly using the village's marinas in Bellport and Ho Hum without a permit.
Brookhaven officials referred questions to H2O Limo, which did not respond to requests for comment. Bellport officials have declined to comment on potential penalties or when the company is due in court.
Some think Brookhaven and Bellport should negotiate a compromise.
Brookhaven NAACP president Georgette Grier-Key rejected the idea of charging higher ferry rates to non-village residents. She said North Bellport residents, and others living in Brookhaven, should be treated the same as the village's taxpayers.
"Why would that be fair to us when we’re already Brookhaven Town residents and we pay taxes?" Grier-Key said. "I don’t think we should be penalized. ... We should pay exactly what the village residents pay."
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.
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