VALPARAISO | A local tourism leader has called out the opponents of a liquor license at Indiana Dunes State Park's historic pavilion, saying "it's gone too far."
Speros Batistatos, president and CEO of the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority, said if opponents don't like the plan put forth by Pavilion Partners that he would ask them to show him their years of experience in the food and beverage business "which they don't possess."
Pavilion Partners was chosen out of two proposals put out in 2011 by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources to restore the 80-year-old pavilion. The group plans a $5 million to $7 million investment in the property which includes banquet facility.
A liquor license for a restaurant at the pavilion was denied by the local liquor board at a meeting attended by hundreds of opponents to the permit and earlier this month that decision was upheld by the Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission.
Earlier this week Pavilion Partners filed an appeal.
Batistatos, who spoke in support of the license at the local meeting, said the issue was discussed at a Northwest Indiana Forum board meeting last week. Batistatos, during his report as chairman of the public policy committee, said everyone in the room felt what's happened with the project "is absolutely wrong."
"There was a call for more information to be provided to members, which I did," Batistatos said. "Every forum member is free to contact the ATC or not contact them as they see fit."
Batistatos reiterated what Pavilion Partners' principal Chuck Williams said that the Indiana Legislature already has voted (in 2012) to grant a license to Indiana Dunes Park to allow alcohol sales.
"We've allowed 300 people to hijack the legislative process of this state," Batistatos said. "That is a fundamental problem. And if I was a legislator I would be screaming from the mountaintops."
Norm Hellmers, of Valparaiso, representing Dunes Action, said the passage of the 2012 law didn’t guarantee Chuck Williams would automatically get the necessary local support for a liquor license.
"The legislation says a lease may permit alcohol sales in the pavilion if the lessee obtains the necessary license," he said. "That’s a big if. Mr. Williams made business decisions without considering all the possibilities.”
Dunes Action co-founder Desi Robertson said allegations about the democratic process are absurd, but they expect such rhetoric will continue.
"It’s a tactic to distract from the real issues — overdevelopment and the reintroduction of alcohol to the Dunes State Park — and to scare off the opposition," she said. "The people opposing this project just want to preserve the peace and dignity of our beach pavilion and state park. ”
Many opponents at the local board hearing on the liquor license brought up concerns that people who drink alcohol at the pavilion could become inebriated, enter Lake Michigan and drown.
Batistatos said the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority made a $27 million investment both in the aquatorium and pavilion in Gary's Marquette Park, both of which have three-way liquor licenses. He said in all the events he's hosted there, nobody has gotten drunk, walked in the lake and drowned. He said those arguments are bait-and-switch and intended to "whip up the masses."