Fire Island Ferries extends service to Ocean Beach until March 7

Fire Island Ferries said Friday it will extend its service to Ocean Beach through March 7, even as the company continues to negotiate a new lease agreement with the village.

On Feb. 15, the Bay Shore based company, which had been operating under a lapsed contract with the village, said services including freight, water taxi and ferry will be paused beginning March 1 until a new contract is reached.

In a statement Friday afternoon, the company said it would continue passenger and freight services to Ocean Beach until March 7. If the village and the ferry company cannot agree to a new contract, service could be cut, the company said.

A negotiations meeting is set for March 1, village attorney Ken Gray said Friday.

"Fire Island Ferries and the Village of Ocean Beach are committed to working together and finalizing a new agreement," Gray said in a statement to Newsday.

In a similar statement, a Fire Island Ferries spokesman told Newsday the company and village were committed to reaching an agreement ahead of March 7.

The ferry company is the only one to service Ocean Beach, a village on Fire Island. The previous contract, which ran from 2011 to 2020, guaranteed that Fire Island Ferries pay a base rent of $490,000 (raised 2% each year) to Ocean Beach for use of the village’s docks and ferry terminal. If Fire Island Ferries terminates services, it would be the first time doing so in the 70-year relationship between the ferry company and village, a general manager said.

By Brinley Hineman

brinley.hineman@newsday.com

Brinley Hineman covers the Town of Hempstead and the City of Long Beach for Newsday. She previously was a reporter in Nashville, Tennessee, and is a West Virginia native.