By Pat Jenkins The Dispatch Paradise Inn, one of the lastest-longing and most iconic symbols of Mount Rainier National Park, is in line for a facelift beginning next year that will help keep it around even longer. The National Park Service has plans for restoring parts of the inn and retrofitting others to help it withstand nature's more aggressive whims, such as earthquakes and mountains of snow. To get the public's advice, the Park Service has released a study called an Environmental Assessment that gives two options for the project: Do it all or do none of it. The choice of park officials is to move forward with plans that call for installation of a new concrete foundation with a stone veneer to replicate the historic look of the building. Other work would include seismic stabilization for earthquake-proofing and improvements in plumbing, electrical, fire safety and drainage. The public would have to do without the inn for approximately 14 months, as the work would require closing it from August 2017 through October 2018. There would also be a project-related reduction of parking in the Paradise lots. Paradise Inn is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1987. The inn itself includes a restaurant and a gift shop and is connected by a snow bridge to the annext, which was built in 1920 and has 79 guest rooms GÇô more than half of all overnight lodging that's available in the park. The surrounding Paradise recreation area, located on the south slope of Mount Rainier, is the most popular and heavily used part of the park. Other than Longmire, Paradise is the only visitor area that is accessible by vehicle year-round. The inn project is being considered in order to protect cultural resources and reduce the risk for potential damage to the annex and snow bridge from excessive snow loads and possible collapse in an earthquake or other seismic event, officials said. The no-action alternative described in the Environmental Assessment (EA) would skip rehabilitation and simply maintain the present level of operations and maintenance of the structures. The EA is under public review until July 21. Park officials have invited comments online at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/mora/piannex or by mail to Superintendent, Mount Rainier National Park, 55210 238th Ave. E., Ashford, WA 98304.
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