Gilligan’s Bar and Grill at Parlée Beach continues to fascinate writers to the Times & Transcript.

For weeks, readers have been subjected to rhetoric for and against the restaurant. The issue, as I understand it is that the Beaubasin Commission over-rode an environmental regulation that would have prevented construction and operation of the restaurant.

That’s unfortunate and somebody’s wrist should be slapped. The restaurant is now a reality and as near as I can see presents no imminent or future threat to the local environment, to the beach or to the sand dunes.

In addition to objections from so-called environmental protectionists, there appears to be an organized letter-writing campaign from people who will lose their summer jobs because of the Gilligan’s closure.

Writers talk about relying on Gilligan’s to feed their families. They do themselves a disservice. The restaurant has only been in operation for a few years. It’s only open for four months a year. Why wouldn’t these people travel to Moncton to find work if Gilligan’s disappears? The real losers in closure would be students who depend on summer employment at places like Gilligan’s to help finance their university tuitions.

I’ve been going to Parlée Beach all my life.

There’s always been a ‘beach-house’ or three along the beach that sold food and beverages and offered gaming machines and dance-floor entertainment. None inflicted damage on the beach or wetlands environment except for the occasional drunk falling into the water.

The beach is not damaged or diminished by Gilligan’s. It is no more intrusive than the two other buildings that sit beside it. Gilligan’s has not added to beach traffic. People don’t travel for miles to hang out at Gilligan’s, they travel for miles to enjoy the beach and the water. Gilligan’s is a watering hole and a lunch stop for beach-goers, no more and no less.

Years ago, the Gould’s Beach House sat on the Gilligan’s site. Like the two others on the beach, Gould’s sold food and beverages, pin-ball machine gaming and dance floor entertainment. The beach withstood that invasion of people and subsequent investment by the Province extended the beach and improved the beach environment.

Today’s sand dunes are two or three times higher than when I was a kid. The depth and length of the beach is double what it was then. If there is an environmental problem, it’s a problem that comes with thousands of beach-goers, not Gilligan’s.

In the 70s, the Provincial Government designated Parlée Beach as a provincial park. Provincial parks are promoted as tourist attractions for residents of the Province and visitors to New Brunswick. Most tourist attractions in the world offer food and beverages for sale. You can’t expect tourists to spend time (whole days) at an attraction without access to washrooms, food and beverages, unless you are a wilderness attraction and Parlée Beach is certainly not wilderness.

The underlying issue with Gilligan’s is that a small, vocal group of Pointe du Chêne residents have decided that they don’t want tourists in their recreational space and they’ve managed to convince environmentalists that invasion of their space is an environmental threat. They have also managed to convince the Provincial Government that withdrawal of an operating permit for Gilligan’s will help preserve the Parlée Beach environment and appease New Brunswick’s environmentalists. They are wrong.

Whatever environmental damage has been done by Gilligan’s, and I’m not convinced there has been any, will not be compensated by closure of the facility. If there is public support for the reclamation of Parlée Beach for the exclusive use of Point du Chêne residents, I would be very surprised.

To return the beach to the private sector would require the Province to abandon its interests in the beach as a ‘provincial park’. That would be ridiculous idea, given the fact it has been a public beach for 100 years and is used by a few hundred thousand people a year.

If there is justification for the closure of Gilligan’s, there is equal justification for the closure of Parlée Beach as a provincial park. If the park is closed to the public and returned to the private sector it would be overwhelmed with commercial and residential development. That might satisfy some folks but it would deprive the people of New Brunswick and their visitors of a provincial treasure.

There is an old expression “Be careful what you ask for because you might get it”.

What if the provincial government turned the Parlée Beach Park over to a residential developer? What if that developer put up a 2,000 or 3,000 unit condo, apartment and hotel-complex? Would that be better for Pointe du Chêne residents than a Gilligan’s that operates 4 months of the year and bothers no one except a few Pointe du Chêne residents who have convinced themselves that their environment has been spoiled? Is it the environment they are concerned with or their view-plane?