Massive development planned for Clagstone

SANDPOINT - Stimson Lumber Company is proposing a massive gated community on about 19 square miles of land it owns in the Clagstone area.

Preliminary development plans for the Clagstone Meadows project propose more than 1,000 dwelling units, most of which would consist of custom-home sites. Low-density condominiums, cottages and RV sites are also being proposed.

The project is currently undergoing staff review at the Bonner County Planning Department. The developers hope to secure permits for the project next year and commence construction in 2010, according to planning records.

If approved in its current configuration, Clagstone Meadows would dwarf the largest developments already existing in Bonner County.

Located about halfway between Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene, the project would span east-to-west from the Careywood to Hoodoo areas, and north-to-south from the Long Mountain area to the Kelso Lake area.

Stimson bills the project as a "recreational and residential ranch." The land, formerly known as Beaver Lake Ranch, was settled in 1900 by Paul Clagstone, a Harvard and Columbia Law School graduate who came to the Panhandle after gaining wealth as a silver mine prospector in the Inland Northwest, a project narrative said.

Portland, Ore.-based Stimson acquired the property in the early 1980s and has been using it primarily for timber harvesting.

"Today, Stimson has a new vision of stewardship for the land," the narrative said.

That vision includes single- and multi-family dwellings, a hotel, vacation rentals and an upscale RV park. The company also envisions two 18-hole golf courses, one of which would be private and the other public. Contained within the site are Beaver and Lambertson lakes.

The project is designed to appeal to affluent second- and vacation-home buyers, including retirement-oriented seasonal residents, planning records indicate.

The project site encompasses 12,283 contiguous acres, which are currently zoned rural and agricultural. The developers say in the planning documents that the exact number of units being proposed is pending the outcome of a market analysis and property master planning.