Public testimony today on Clagstone Meadows

SANDPOINT — If you have thoughts on a proposal to create a 12,000-acre recreational community in south-central Bonner County, now is the time to express them.

The county Planning & Zoning Commission’s second segment of a hearing on the Clagstone Meadows resumes today with testimony from the public. The hearing starts at 5:30 p.m. at the Sandpoint Charter High School auditorium at 615 South Madison Ave.

The public hearing began on Monday with presentations from the Planning Department and the developers. There was to be testimony from a number of government agencies which reviewed the proposal, although most of the entities mainly stood by the written comments they had already provided.

Clagstone Meadows LLC is seeking conceptual approval of a large-scale planned unit development that would  allow 785 custom homes, 30 fractional-share cabins and 100 four-plex condominiums. It would also have two 18-hole golf courses, recreational trails and a 95-space motor coach area.

Clagstone Meadows would also have 4,954 acres of open space and another 5,728 acres of managed timberland open space.

“Nearly 86 percent of the site is in some form of open space,” said Kevin Apperson of WHPacific, the project’s designer.

The development team played down the scope of the development by emphasizing what could be developed on the property if a planned unit development concept was not utilized — 1,200 10-acre ranchettes.

But the Idaho Department of Fish & Game is pressing the developers for a more detailed analysis of existing wildlife populations, movement corridors and habitat fragmentation. The developers counter that finer detail is premature at this stage in the review process.

Chip Corsi, Fish & Game’s Panhandle regional supervisor, said in a July 18 that it’s easy to visualize the effects of habitat fragmentation.

“It is difficult to visualize the final design of a development when the developer is deliberating on specific economic market conditions, local demand and consumer preferences that are undisclosed to us,” Corsi said in the letter.

Hal Keever, also of WHPacific, said the company is optimistic it can resolve Fish & Game’s concerns, but said during the hearing that it appears the department has a “personal agenda” in its dealings with the developer.

“We have gone way overboard with regard to protecting wildlife habitat,” said Keever.

There are as many as 120 acres of wetlands on the property, although the developers said a delineation and projected impacts to those resources is also premature.