By VICKI URBANIK

The mood at a sunset protest against a beachfront hotel at the Indiana Dunes State Park was not so much one of celebration, but resolve.

The day after the hotel plans were dealt a setback when not a single developer submitted a proposal by the deadline, more than 80 people gathered at the state park’s beach parking lot at sunset Thursday to keep up their opposition to the proposal by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

The protesters ranged in age from seniors to the very young. Many of those in attendance wore tags saying “Indiana Dunes State Park—Not for Sale or Lease.” Some displayed signs, like those saying “we’ll remember in November” or “save our sunset beach.”

And more than a few commented on the gorgeous night: While rain fell elsewhere in the area, the dunes beachfront was dry, the fading sun cast a brilliant glow on a stand of trees and a rainbow appeared in the south.

The turnout was noticeably larger than in April, when hotel opponents gathered at the same place for a DNR-sponsored meeting with potential developers.

“This is such a beautiful spot,” said Suzanne Keldsen of Chesterton, who said she comes to the beach parking lot often for quiet evenings to watch the sunset. Many of the sunset watchers either need to or prefer to stay in their car but, she noted, one cannot watch the sunset from the parking lot at the nearby state park pavilion.

“It will not be the same with a huge hotel,” she said. “It would be a terrible loss for the community.”

One group that gathered Thursday comes out to the beach parking lot practically every evening. They are members of the Sunset Club, a group made up largely of retirees who have been coming to watch the sunset together for about 10 years. When the entire clan gets together, they number about 22.

As member Joy Johnston noted, the hotel on the beach parking lot would destroy the gathering place and block the sunset view. Fellow sunset watcher Joan Knibbs said that they used to take their lawn chairs on the sand, but their chairs kept falling over, so now they need the hard surface of the parking lot to sit and watch.

Often times, Knibbs said, they stay in their cars and talk with each other through the car windows. They get together practically every night to engage in hearty conversation and “solve the world’s problems,” Knibbs joked.

Knibbs, who held a sign saying “sold out by the DNR,” said she isn’t that relieved that the DNR’s deadline came without any proposals by hotel developers. “It certainly doesn’t diminish their ability to do something if they so desire,” she said.

One of the more senior Sunset Club members is Jean Gland, who said she’s been coming to the dunes since she was 6 years old. “I’ve spent a lot of time walking up and down the beach,” she said, as she held a sign “It’s all about $$.”

Among those in the younger set at the beach was Valparaiso 8th grader Nathan Felton, who said a hotel on the parking lot would “immensely ruin” the beach landscape.

“It’s too much development for a state park,” he said.

To Miff Woosley of nearby Porter Beach, a small lodge in the park might not be that offensive, but not a 100-room facility with amenities like an indoor swimming pool and year-round restaurant as planned. “There’s enough hotels in the area,” she said. “We don’t need any more hotels. We need this to be kept natural.”

Cathy Berg said the state park was acquired for the purposes of protecting the dunes for the public at large, not to build a hotel that caters to the more well-to-do.

“It smacks of elitism,” she said.

Long-term dunes advocate Herb Read displayed a photo in which he superimposed the Hilton Garden Inn in Chesterton on the beach parking lot. His photo showed that the Hilton, which is comparably sized to the inn proposed by the DNR, would take up nearly the entire width of the lot.

A few people said they don’t think the hotel fight is anywhere near to being over. Indeed, DNR Director Kyle Hupfer said earlier in the day that the state will now conduct an indepth study to see how and if the DNR could build and operate the hotel on its own, just as it has at six other state parks, instead of the privatized facility originally planned.

“We need to do what’s called eternal vigilance,” said Save the Dunes Council President Susan Mihalo.

Save the Dunes Council Executive Director Tom Anderson said the state doesn’t have enough resources to manage the park but it apparently has the time to do a detailed economic study on a hotel that even private sector is not interested in.

“To me, there’s an inherent conflict there,” he said.

Mihalo said rather than a study, the DNR should return to its mission of protecting public resources. “I really wish the state would not waste any more resources on this,” she said.

Anderson also said that the Save the Dunes Council earlier suggested acquiring more land for the state park and building the hotel there. But the focus, he said, was on the beachfront lot. “The thing that seemed to be driving it was the lake view,” he said.

Thursday’s protest was sponsored by Duneland First, one of the citizen groups opposing the state park hotel. But Duneland First member Mary Ann Crayton expressed delight as she noted than more than half of those at the protest were not Duneland First members but new people who came out because they value the dunes.

“The rainbow sort of said it all,” she said. “Everything came together tonight.”

Posted 6/2/2006