National Harbor Hits Snag Over Alcohol

More than 900,000 room nights have been booked at the hotel and, according to the filing, the facility has booked a January 2009 party for 15,000 people.

None of that can proceed without a liquor license.

"No major hotel chain is going to operate without all the major permits," said M.H. Jim Estepp, the president and chief executive of the Greater Prince George's Business Roundtable.

Estepp, who is also a former chairman of the County Council, called the liquor license process in Prince George's "one of the most political of any aspect of government," one in which deference is often paid to the desires of local senators. The liquor board's members are nominated by the governor but must be confirmed by the state Senate. Estepp said he was surprised National Harbor and Gaylord did not first approach the lawmakers who represent the southern Prince George's development.

"It's important for the players, who are not novices in the political process, to recognize what the local norms are," he said.

According to a narrative of events in the court documents, Gaylord first applied in December for a class of license reserved for luxury restaurants.

At the time, three other county hotels operated with the same kind of license Gaylord sought.

A transcript from a February hearing shows that board members reacted with enthusiasm to the project. However, they indicated that the bill then under consideration by the General Assembly to create a waterfront entertainment complex permit would be the best route to a license. Other large projects in Prince George's, including the Redskins stadium, operate using licenses that were created specifically for them by the legislature.

During the hearing, Jackson, the board chairman, said he was "foremost concerned" that the license fee be appropriate, suggesting a yearly fee ranging from $18,000 to $50,000.

Still, at the conclusion of the meeting, the board voted unanimously that it would "be in favor of rewarding an appropriate license to the facility pending outcome of what happens in the legislative session."

"Congratulations," Jackson told Gaylord's representatives.

The board has not reviewed the matter since then, nor has it issued a license. Gaylord argues that the board's failure to act means it has illegally gone back on the February decision that the hotel chain met the requirements for a license of some kind. The board counters it had agreed to issue the new waterfront license only once it was created by the legislature.