Fire Island NPS Driving Permits

Source: National Park Service Foundation FOIA releases:

• 2022 list: https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/foia/upload/2022-FIIS-Driving.pdf
• 2020 list: https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/foia/upload/2020-Driving-Permits-2.pdf

Why this document matters: Fire Island is car-free during the summer season (March 15 – Labor Day for most of the federal park). Anyone who needs to drive a vehicle on the beach corridor between Robert Moses State Park and Smith Point — to access homes, deliver supplies, do construction, haul garbage, or operate utility services — must apply for an NPS-issued driving permit. The annual permit list, released under FOIA, is the most complete public document of who actually services Fire Island year-round.

Privacy redactions: Personal residents’ names, home addresses, phone numbers, and emails are redacted under FOIA Exemption (b)(6) — Privacy Act personal-info exemption. Business operators, however, are NOT redacted because their business identity is public-facing. This is why we can see Bob Kerr / RK Landscapes, Mark Cherveny / Cherveny carting, Ronald Fuzia, etc. clearly.

Verified hits on user-mentioned names

CHERVENY family (extensive Fire Island operations)

Mark Cherveny — Atlantique-area resident, born ~1983 (was age 9 in NYT 1992 article)

• Currently runs construction debris carting + municipal sanitation hauling out of Fire Island
• 2022 ESS Permits #481 and #482 (Essential Services tab)
• Address: P.O. Box 304, Ocean Beach NY 11770
• Phone: 631-583-5381 / 631-495-5658
• Vehicles: 2018 White Ford F550 (plate 24246ML, weight 19,500 lbs); 2006 Green Ford (plate 14109JW, 13,000 lbs)
• Authorized additional driver: Benjamin Cherveny
• Service area: Fire Island Pines (in 2022); Point O’ Woods (in 2020)
• Also a Brentwood Fire Department 3rd Division firefighter (Instagram, Dec 2024)

Richard S. Cherveny — separate Cherveny family member

• Business: Fire Island Handyman, LLC
• Address: P.O. Box 437, Islip NY 11751
• Phone: 631-583-8178
• Permit #363 in 2022
• Service area: Ocean Beach
• Vehicle: 2019 White Ford (plate 12605MA)

Pat Cherveny — broker-owner of Cherveny Real Estate (separate from carting/handyman operations)

• Licensed real estate broker since 1986; broker-owner since 1996
• Brokerage: chervenyrealestate.com
• Specializes in Atlantique, Lonelyville, Robbins Rest, Kismet
• Phone: 631-583-8718

Scott Cherveny — Greater Lonelyville Facebook regular, family member

So the Cherveny family runs at least three distinct Fire Island businesses: real estate brokerage (Pat), construction/sanitation hauling (Mark + Benjamin), and a handyman service (Richard). They are functionally a one-family service-and-real-estate dynasty across the western Fire Island communities.

FUZIA — your “Ronnie/Ronald Fusia”

Ronald Fuzia — confirmed exactly as user remembered, just different spelling

• Address: Islip Terrace NY 11752
• Phone: 631-581-2707
• Email: [email protected]
• Permit #375 in 2022; Permit #373 in 2020
• Service community: Atlantique (matches user’s recall)
• Vehicle: 2004 Grey Chevrolet (plate JPX5553)
• Authorized additional driver: Owen McKenna
• Type: Construction permit
• Note: The federal record only confirms his contracting business and Fire Island activity. Any criminal record the user recalls would be in Suffolk County court records, not in the NPS permit list. The fact that he’s been issued NPS permits in both 2020 and 2022 means he was not at the time excluded from federal park access — does not rule out earlier-era issues, but does establish current good-standing for federal driving permit purposes.

KERR — your year-round landscaper

Robert Kerr — confirmed

• Business: RK Landscapes, Inc.
• Address: P.O. Box 326, Ocean Beach NY 11770
• Phone: 631-583-8776
• Permit #384 in 2022; Permit #380 in 2020
• Service community: Fair Harbor (2022); Ocean Beach (2020)
• Vehicle: 2007 White Ford (plate 84412JW, 13,000 lbs)
• Email (2020 list): [email protected]
• Year-round permit confirms multi-year operation
• Has a related operator: Brendan Reynolds, RK Landscapes (Permit #405, 2022, P.O. Box 337 Ocean Beach, phone 631-583-7841, email [email protected]) — likely a partner or successor

WHITNEY — Pioneer Market

The Whitney family appears in the 2021 temporary permits list:

• Pioneer Market — Permit #36 (2022), service area Fair Harbor, “for work involved in the operation of a grocery establishment”
• Kismet Market — Permit #55 (2021), 529 Myrtle Ave., West Islip, vehicle 2015 Blue Honda (plate GVG7373), phone 631-583-8449, “for work involved in the operation of a grocery establishment”
• Plus the broader Whitney record from earlier research: Pioneer Market opened 1968 by Bob and Frank Whitney; Whitney Pantry Ocean Beach (run by Jeff Whitney and family); Kismet Market run today by Andrew and Benjamin Whitney; Frank William Whitney III died Oct 30, 2023

CLOCK — descendants of Captain Selah Clock

Forrest P. Clock — operating as “DBA Forrest Clock”

• Address: P.O. Box 355, Ocean Beach NY 11770
• Phone: 516-524-9199
• Permit #365 in 2022; Permit #362 in 2020
• Service community: Point O’ Woods
• Vehicle: 2013 Grey Toyota (plate KJS6742 in 2022; HLV3316 in 2020)
• Authorized driver in 2020: Julio Castillo Villa
• This is a direct descendant of Captain Selah T. Clock (1863-1934), Lonelyville founder

Pete Clock (separately documented) — Lonelyville’s representative on the FIMI Stakeholders calls 2016 and 2017; Greater Lonelyville Facebook regular

Other notable Fire Island year-round service operators (2022)

Construction / contracting (Construction Tab)

Plumbers and Electricians (Plumbers and Electricians Tab)

Essential Services (Essential Services Tab) — gas, sanitation, debris removal, mail

Municipal & Village government (Municipal Tab)

Utility tabs

• PSEG Long Island — supervisor Walter Sharpe (1650 Islip Ave., Brentwood, phone 631-233-8239) coordinates dozens of crew vehicles; primary work area Watch Hill (where the underground cable to Fire Island Pines lands)
• Verizon — supervisor Daniel Farrington (255 Knickerbocker Ave., Bohemia, phone 631-244-3973) — 4 full-time FT permits for Watch Hill area
• Suffolk County Water Authority (SCWA) — Mike O’Connell, Phil Thompson, Paul Kuzman, Robert Lehning, Kevin Durk, Tim Kilcommons, Tony DeLuca; all out of 180 5th Ave Bay Shore
• Fire Island Ferries — handle U.S. Mail (Mooney permit above)

Official tab (government agencies)

Seaview Water Plant tab

• Nick Facciponti, Seaview Association, P.O. Box 96 Ocean Beach, phone 516-639-8997

Patterns visible in the permit data

1. The Town of Islip dominates municipal services for the western half of Fire Island (everything from Kismet through Cherry Grove). Dozens of Islip Town employees (DPW, Parks, Building, Engineering, Code Enforcement, Animal Shelter, Assessor) hold year-round NPS permits to access Seaview as their entry point.

2. The Town of Brookhaven handles the eastern half via Davis Park as the main entry point.

3. Fire Island Ferries is the only entity authorized to transport U.S. Mail to Ocean Beach Post Office.

4. JMA Industries (John Altieri, Deer Park) holds the Lonelyville sanitation contract — all three of his trucks are permitted to service Lonelyville year-round.

5. The Cherveny operations are unusually broad — Pat (real estate) + Mark (carting/sanitation/construction) + Richard S. (handyman) + Benjamin (Mark’s driver). This is one of the most diversified family service operations on the island.

6. Bay Shore is the year-round residential base for most of the “Robert Moses” gateway operators (the western entry point through Robert Moses State Park). Brightwaters is second-most-common. Cherry Grove and Sayville dominate the eastern entry through Smith Point.

7. The “essential services” exemption is very tightly controlled — only ~30 permits across all of gas, sanitation, debris hauling, and mail. Each requires a specific named purpose.

8. The “Sailors Haven Federal Tract closure (March 15 – October 11)” is the single biggest seasonal restriction — it forces all year-round operators to use the western Robert Moses route during summer. This is why so many operators are clustered in Bay Shore and the western communities; the eastern Davis Park route is harder during the season.

How to use this for outreach

If user wants to make contact with Fire Island operators in his network or beyond:

• Mark Cherveny (carting): 631-583-5381 / P.O. Box 304 Ocean Beach
• Pat Cherveny (real estate): 631-583-8718 / chervenyrealestate.com
• Bob Kerr (RK Landscapes): 631-583-8776 / P.O. Box 326 Ocean Beach
• Brendan Reynolds (RK Landscapes successor/partner): 631-583-7841 / [email protected]
• Forrest Clock: 516-524-9199 / P.O. Box 355 Ocean Beach
• Ronald Fuzia: 631-581-2707 / [email protected]
• William J. Newman (Saltaire builder + realty): 631-583-5886 / [email protected]
• Pioneer Market (Whitney family): Fair Harbor, year-round
• Kismet Market (Andrew & Benjamin Whitney): 631-583-8449 / 529 Myrtle Ave., West Islip

These are all year-round, permitted, federally-vetted operators. If the user wants an inroad into the Fire Island operator class — the working-class service community that actually keeps the island functional — these are the load-bearing nodes.

Future research

The 2020 and 2022 lists are publicly available; FOIA could be filed for 2023, 2024, 2025 lists if user wants more current data. Each year would refresh the contact info and may add or drop operators. The lists are also released as .xlsx originally (the PDFs we have are renderings) — direct request to NPS Fire Island National Seashore FOIA office could get the spreadsheets.