« Ind. Gov't. - Judge Comer is replaced as Ethics Commission head | Main | Ind. Courts - Orange County eyes courthouse renovations »

Friday, June 02, 2006

Ind. Gov't. - More on: Dunes Inn idea is a bust - no bids received

Updating yesterday's ILB entry are these items today.

The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette has this editorial, titled "Dunes inn doomed:"

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources’ decision to move forward with an ill-advised plan to build a hotel at Indiana Dunes State Park despite fervent opposition is nothing more than folly.

In January, Kyle Hupfer, director of the DNR, announced a request for proposals from private investors to build a hotel on the valuable but ecologically fragile beach property. Community activists immediately criticized the proposal. Influential environmental groups like the Save the Dunes Council rightly pointed out that a hotel would endanger the already problematic water quality at the beach and that Hoosiers needed to protect Indiana’s limited beach property from further degradation rather than developing the land.

Many were also opposed to the idea of privatizing state park assets.

The deadline for proposals from private developers lapsed on Wednesday. There were no takers. But instead of being dissuaded by the lack of interest from private investors, Hupfer said that the DNR will now look at building and running a hotel in the park on its own.

Even if Hupfer is willing to ignore the concerns about the environmental effects of the hotel, the disinterest from the business community should cause him to rethink this hotel plan.

Neighbors don’t want the inn; park visitors have not demanded it; and businesses don’t want to build. Why don’t state officials drop the idea?

From a Gary Post Tribune story today by Diane Krieger Spivak:
“It has been such a struggle to get this park to begin with,” said Sylvia Troy, also of Beverly Shores and a 40-year member of Save the Dunes. “Every square foot of it was a bloody battle and now they want to put a hotel on this gorgeous beach.”

Opponents have argued that there are hotels outside the park visitors can use, and that the ecological impact on the Dunes would be devastating, from creating light pollution and interfering with migratory bird paths, to blocking beautiful sunsets. * * *

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources, which announced plans in January to build a hotel at the park, says lodging is necessary there because it is one of the most visited state parks and the only one with as many visitors that has no hotel or inn.

From a story by Matthew Van Dusen in the Munster (NW Indiana) Times:
The apparent victory of environmental and citizen groups that mounted an aggressive media campaign against the project was a relief to people at the beach on Thursday, but activists were already getting ready for the next hotel proposal.

"It's important to be here anyway, to send a message," said Laura DeSousa, co-founder of the group Duneland First who was handing out tags that said, "Indiana Dunes State Park, Not for Sale or Lease."

A sign in circulation had a picture of the Hilton Garden Inn in Chesterton superimposed on the site of the proposed hotel at the Dunes.

Many people expressed distrust for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, particularly Director Kyle Hupfer.

Ruth Osann, a former president of Save the Dunes Council, which also opposed the hotel, said Hupfer was being disingenuous when he said the proposed hotel wouldn't be on the beach.

"It can't get much closer (to the water), unless he wants it to be washed away by the next high lake level," said Osann.

She added the park is too small for development that would ruin natural areas and opposed a hotel even if, as the DNR has proposed, the state builds and runs it.

Finally, the Chesterton Tribune's Vicki Urbanik does her usual thorough job of reporting, with this comprehensive story based on interviews with Hupfer and others. Some quotes:
[DNR Director Kyle Hupfer] said this morning that he will not extend the deadline for developers to submit proposals, but will instead order a high-level financial analysis to see how viable it would be for the state to build and operate the hotel itself, rather than a privatized facility as originally proposed.

“This is a restart of the process,” he said.

The DNR built and operates the inns currently at six state parks. The inn at the Monroe State Reservoir, on the other hand, was built and is operated privately. At the Dunes State Park, the DNR sought a private vendor who would build and operate the inn, paying property taxes on the structure and an annual lease payment to the DNR for use of the land.

The fiscal analysis will address how much a Dunes State Park inn would cost and how much it might generate. “We know intuitively that it would be successful,” Hupfer said. Given the heavy visitation at the Dunes State Park, “we have little doubt that it would have a high level of occupancy.”

Hupfer said once the fiscal analysis is done, the DNR will have several options: Either build and operate the inn itself, put out another request for proposals for a privatized inn, engage in advance discussions with hotel developers about the concept before going forward, or putting the idea temporarily on hold if the timing doesn’t look good.

But regardless of what option the DNR eventually takes, Hupfer said the DNR still supports an inn at the Dunes State Park.

“We think an expansion of the inn system is needed,” he said. * * *

Despite the opposition, Hupfer maintains that a Dunes State Park inn has much support. He cited the destination audit conducted by the Porter County Convention, Recreation and Visitor Commission that supported a state park inn as one way to promote tourism and economic development.

However, that audit also states that the inn should be away from the beach. And more recently, the PCCRVC Board came out against the DNR’s current position of building the inn so close to the beach.

Hupfer disputes that the proposed site—on the northernmost parking lot west of the state park pavilion—is actually on the beach. “It’s well off the beach,” he said, adding that the DNR purposely avoided proposing the inn on the footprint of the previous inn since it was directly on the beach.

When asked if the DNR would support building a hotel at a different site in the state park, Hupfer said he’s open to suggestions, but that he’s not sure where else in the park an inn could feasibly be built. He said the preferred site may end up the most viable location.

He noted that the DNR made a commitment not to build an inn on undisturbed land and that much of the state park is in a dedicated nature preserve that cannot be touched.

He also said people who vacation in Florida don’t want to stay at a hotel away from the ocean, but that they come to Florida to experience the beach atmosphere. * * *

Hupfer said he doesn’t know how long a fiscal analysis for a state-run Dunes State Park inn would take and that he isn’t putting a deadline to the study, since there is “no time pressure.”

If the DNR opts to build an inn itself, it would probably be like the other state park inns. Bond issues funded the initial construction of the facilities. The revenues through inn operations are used to pay off the bonds, as well as operating expenses including DNR staff. “They are profitable,” he said of the state-run inns.

Such a bond would likely be issued through the Indiana Finance Authority. Unless the DNR was seeking direct state funding, no legislative action would be needed, Hupfer said.

Hupfer also said the DNR will likely hold a public forum on the issue before deciding how to proceed. The DNR did not hold a public input session before announcing its plans this year, though Hupfer was the guest speaker at an informational meeting on the topic hosted by the Save the Dunes Council.

When asked if the DNR will hope to change people’s minds about the inn through a public forum, Hupfer said he won’t pretend to have such influence. He said hotel opponents have been opposed to any new developments in the park. He cited as an example the opposition against the state park’s Nature Center years ago.

“I don’t know if we can change the minds of the folks who want the park for themselves,” he said.

[More] I just read this in Marty Lucas' blog, BigEastern, and believe it is worthy of repeating:
If there are any developers out there reading this, I'll say it again. (1) Build on a brownfield lakefront site near the park or Nat'l Lakeshore, not in it, and (2) restore some dunes as part of the project, (3) make the hotel an architectural work worthy of its landscape, and (4) sensitive to the environmental isues (bird migrations and dark sky come to mind) and we dunes lovers will not only be comfortable with it, we'll be comfortable in it. To make it work, you'll need to rent rooms to us whacky treehuggers, especially in winter.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 2, 2006 07:54 AM
Posted to Environment | Indiana Government