Indiana panel approves liquor license for Dunes pavilion
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - An Indiana commission approved a liquor license Tuesday for a politically connected businessman's restaurant and bar development, reversing its decision last year to reject alcohol sales for the project at Indiana Dunes State Park.
The Alcohol and Tobacco Commission voted 4-0 to grant liquor licenses for dozens of entities, including the state Department of Natural Resources, which sought liquor licenses at nine state parks, including the park along Lake Michigan that features a popular beach and towering sand dunes.
Last October, the panel rejected a liquor license sought by developer Chuck Williams after Porter County officials voted against granting a liquor license he had sought. But Gov. Mike Pence signed a bill in March, passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature, that allows the DNR to obtain alcohol permits for its parks without having to follow most of the usual requirements.
Williams' Pavilion Partners LLC holds a state contract to refurbish and privatize the park's aging pavilion. The plan calls for adding a restaurant, bar and banquet hall where alcohol would be sold.
The high-ranking state Republican Party official has donated handsomely to GOP causes, but he's denied that his political connections played a role in the contract he obtained for the project.
The DNR has also said it followed state and federal laws and did not give Williams preferential treatment.
Williams did not return a phone message Tuesday seeking comment on the commission's action.
Opponents of the pavilion project have called the contract a sell-off of public land that should be free of commercial interests. They were disappointed but not surprised by the commission's approval of the alcohol permit, said Jim Sweeney, president of the Porter County chapter of the Izaac Walton League.
But he said they remain worried that the development will bring alcohol-related problems to the park's beach near Chesterton, about 40 miles west of South Bend.
Sweeney said the pavilion's close proximity to Lake Michigan's waters is worrisome because the beach can be "very dangerous" at times and alcohol only adds to those risks if an inebriated person enters the water.
"What we're worried about are people who have had too much to drink going out into the water when there's no lifeguard around," he said, noting there was a drowning at the park last weekend that is believed to have involved alcohol.
A spokeswoman for Pavilion Partners, Jennifer Drewry, did not return messages seeking an update on the project. Construction of the pavilion is currently on hold amid a pending decision by the National Park Service on whether the site will be designated a public facility.
DNR spokesman Phil Bloom said Dunes State Park is the only park in Indiana's 24-park system that has had a complete ban on alcohol. That ban was imposed more than a quarter-century ago as part of a response to rising gang activity at the park.
Bloom said the eight other state parks the commission awarded liquor licenses were: Brown County, McCormick's Creek, Clifty Falls, Fort Harrison, Spring Mill, Turkey Run, Pokagon, and Falls of the Ohio. All but the Falls of the Ohio previously had liquor licenses, and all but the southern Indiana park has an inn.
Bloom said the licenses will allow the parks to serve alcohol outside of their inns at shelter houses that park visitors can rent for wedding receptions, family reunions and other events.