Mount Rainier: Resort project betrays land heritage

Re: “Planned resort near Mount Rainier faces permit problems,” (TNT, 12/27).

This idea of “paradise” is opportunistic and was a bad one from the start.

An infrastructure-dependent complex in the midst of wilderness habitat hinged on transient occupancy. It was further premised on surge reservations for 600 in weekend congregation, sweetened by the notion that no one in their right mind is going to Hertz all this way from Sea-Tac Airport for brunch and a meeting without their golf clubs.

Of course, a promised peek at Rainier is alluring, but to what point? The usual abstractions: jobs and community?

Now it’s become a county permitting muddle in the middle of settled community living in balance with nature and occasional traffic.

One wonders how that would change under the weight of “paradise,” why we plan urban growth and land use. But big money wants to bulldoze this elk graze for sand traps and neon, a little Las Vegas to party in the woods.

This foolish project remains emblematic of the challenge to balance our land heritage with reasoned restraint against the ceaseless intrigues of profit, population and weak governance. It should stop.

This story was originally published January 13, 2021 at 11:07 AM with the headline "Mount Rainier: Resort project betrays land heritage."