Permanent Closing of Peconic Star Fleet Draws Ire, Confusion in Greenport

It’s the end of an era in the village of Greenport, and the locals are not happy.

The Peconic Star fleet, a group of party fishing boats historically docked in the Greenport waterfront since 1982, abruptly announced its permanent closure on Sept. 16 on Facebook.

“Out of business, lost our lease,” the company wrote on its Facebook page. “From Capt. Dave Brennan to Capt. Arnold ‘Speedy’ Heubert, it was a great run. Thanks to all our great and loyal customers.”

The boats are being sold, according to sources close to the fleet. The business did not reply to multiple requests for comment on why they closed.

Greenport Mayor Kevin Stuessi, who was elected in 2023 in a landslide over then-incumbent Mayor George Hubbard Jr., ran for office on a platform of investing in and revitalizing Greenport’s working waterfront. Stuessi said in an email that Village Hall was not aware of any plans by the fleet to shutter permanently.

“Their lease is active and we were very much hoping for a renewal next year when it expires,” Stuessi said. “The village has a multi-year lease in place with the Peconic Star fleet through May 2026, we would welcome looking at a renewal with whomever might be purchasing one or both boats. We’ve not heard anything from the owner of the fleet who we are told is retiring, neither he or any prospective purchaser inquired with marina management about a new lease starting next summer.”

Stuessi added he hopes there will be a replacement for the fleet to keep the village’s fishing heritage alive.

“Our working waterfront of both commercial and recreational boats is a big part of the village and we would welcome finding another operator of recreational fishing to dock here,” Stuessi said.

The zoning laws put in place in 2023 by Stuessi’s administration created the “WC Waterfront Commercial District,” with the code stating “the objective of this district is to preserve, maintain and encourage water-dependent uses that have traditionally been associated with the Village waterfront and to accommodate water-enhanced commercial uses that are compatible with water-dependent uses.”

The laws stated that this district was to be used only for yacht clubs, marinas, docking facilities and fishing stations, municipal parks, municipal or government facilities and fraternal lodges, boat launching facilities, excursion boats, businesses principally engaged in the marine industry or in the manufacturing, fabrication and/or assembly of marine-related products, fish, shellfish and/or aquatic plant processing plants, retail and wholesale of seafood products or aquatic plant products, retail fuel storage and sales solely for boats, maritime museums, and aquaculture facilities, with any exemptions requiring village approval.

But residents aren’t taking kindly to Village Hall’s apparent ignorance on the fate of the Peconic Star fleet, with many residents taking to Facebook to claim the loss is another episode of the administration’s alleged anti-business policies. Others claimed that the 2023 zoning code didn’t do enough to help a business like the Peconic Star.

“It’s a terrible loss,” former Mayor Dave Kapell, who served in the village’s top job from 1994 to 2007, said. “For Village Hall not to be aware that they were suffering under the current arrangement or contemplating leaving the village, that’s just a major communication failure. The current administration ran on a on a platform that heavily emphasized updating the local waterfront revitalization plan, which I think everybody would agree, is a good step. Any sort of informal plan to guide the village through these waters would be helpful. It would have reached out to all of the operators on the waterfront, including operators like the Peconic Star, and brought them into the process of building the new plan. But as soon as they got elected, they dumped that and went to this massive rezoning instead. They jumped the gun and rezoned the village in a way that’s negative, and left the waterfront revitalization plan unresolved.”