Rainier resort case delayed

Court hearing reset to March 22

N.S. NOKKENTVED, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published December 17, 2001

ASHFORD -- The long-running attempt to build a resort on the flanks of Mount Rainier has hit another delay.

A Thurston County Superior Court hearing on legal challenges to the proposed Mount Rainier Resort at Park Junction, which had been set for Friday, has been postponed until March 22.

The delay has made it hard for the developers to attract investors. Investors aren't interested in putting their money into the project as long as the legal challenges remains unresolved, project manager Sylvia Cleaver said.

"It hurts us big time," she said.

The project has been in the planning stages since 1992. In 1996, developers applied for a conditional use permit from Pierce County. The county approved the permit and issued an environmental study of the project later that year.

Challenge

The permit and the study, however, were challenged by the Tahoma Audubon Society.

When a Pierce County examiner in October 2000 upheld the permit and the adequacy of the study, Audubon appealed the ruling. The fate of the proposed $70 million to $90 million project 12 miles west of the park's Nisqually entrance now rests with the court.

The case was first set for July 27 but was delayed until Sept. 27 and then rescheduled for Dec. 21. And now it won't be heard until March.

Opponents sought to have the trial in Thurston County, instead of Pierce, because it would be more likely to get an impartial hearing here, said Kirk Kirkland of the Tahoma Audubon Society.

He was not disappointed by the most recent delay. Having the case heard in mid-December would have spoiled Christmas, he said.

The project would include a 270-room lodge, 18-hole golf course, 500-seat conference center, shopping and more than 300 vacation homes and condominiums.

The developers are Elbe business owners Gayle and Cora Adams, backed by Portland businessman Selwyn Bingham. The resort would be the first master-planned resort in Pierce County, a concept loosely defined under the state's 10-year-old Growth Management Act to create acceptable and healthy growth in rural areas.

Developers already have spent about $4 million on the project, Cleaver said. "You don't quit."

Opponents say Pierce County's approval was based on economic development concerns, and did not adequately consider the effects on Mount Rainier National Park. They contend the resort relies on Mount Rainier and the national park as its draw, not the resort itself as they say the law requires.

The developers say challengers are relying on opinion rather than evidence in their opposition and contend the project does in fact meet the requirements of state law. Opponent have failed to show the environmental study was inadequate, developers say.

Proponents say the project would boost the flagging timber economy, providing badly needed jobs in the rural area.

The resort would more than double the population of Ashford -- from 600 to 1,500, Kirkland said.

"It's a big change."

N.S. Nokkentved covers the outdoors for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5445.

On the Web:

- Thurston County Superior Court

The Olympian Copyright 2001

back to main Outdoors: Environment index