Pavilion needs restoration, not renovation
Dunes Action would like to remind the public about what we are still opposing in the Pavilion Reuse Project at the Indiana Dunes State Park.
The public has been clamoring for a renovation of the Pavilion forever. It is part of the identity of the park, but the DNR Division of State Parks stopped maintaining it years ago. We want it used again for visitor services, first aid, refreshments, etc. We don’t have a problem with a nice restaurant in the building. We do not like the fact that the current plan is overly dependent on the sale of alcohol in the Pavilion and at the banquet facility.
The current design already includes a bar on both floors of the Pavilion. A third barroom would be built on the roof. It will have restaurant service and 14-foot tall sliding glass walls. The Indiana Dunes State Park is a phenomenal natural area and is famous for the birds that live there and migrate along the Lake Michigan shoreline throughout the year. Putting a glass-walled saloon on the roof of the Pavilion and the proposed “window walls” of the pending banquet center pose an unacceptable threat to birds. This is an already protected wildlife conservation area and all these windows will kill a lot of birds.
Hopefully, the DNR has advised the developer of the threat of blowing sand to mechanical equipment and “sliding glass walls.” We also hope they have considered the sharing of food on the roof and outdoor seating areas with the gulls that like to help themselves to anything edible they find outside. Gulls are also famous for leaving messy “reminders” of their visits as well.
Our opinion is the addition of the glass walls on the roof and the addition of the two balconies and supporting beams on the lake side of the Pavilion are not at all in keeping with the classic art deco design of the building.
We will continue to fight a new building on the beach for the proposed banquet facility scheduled for construction after the Pavilion work completes. Although owned by the DNR, it would be, in effect, a commercial banquet facility taking public land for private profit. The lease stipulates payments to the state of $1,800 per month and after two years, 2% of the gross receipts. This is an insult to the taxpayers of the state for such a paltry sum for the most prime real estate in Indiana.
We have all the same objections to the banquet building regarding social and environmental impacts, including threats to birds.
The heavy reliance on alcohol sales on all three levels of the Pavilion and the banquet center will destroy the tranquility of the shoreline at the park and will create all kinds of problems with alcohol fueled visitors that will include loud and obnoxious behavior, foul language, litter, blaring music, and guaranteed late-night dips in the lake.
We support an appropriate restoration of the Pavilion. We do not support the glass-walled bar on the roof, the lake side balconies on the second floor, and the new banquet building.
Jim Sweeney is the co-founder of Dunes Action.