Clagestone Meadows decision is postponed

SANDPOINT — The largest planned unit development ever proposed in Bonner County is shaping up to be one of the most thoroughly considered projects the county has reviewed in the past 20 years.

County commissioners put off a decision Wednesday on the 1,200-unit Clagstone Meadows proposal so they have ample time to digest the voluminous written record.

“There’s a lot of information I’m going to want to wade through before I make a decision,” Commissioner Lewis Rich said at the outset of board deliberations on the 12,000-acre resort community plan.

The commission is scheduled to resume deliberation of Clagstone Meadows at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 17.

Between a site visit and a subsequent public hearing which spanned two days, commissioners have devoted about 16 hours of review. The Planning & Zoning Commission put in about 27 hours of review before recommending approval of the project in August.

Aside from land use code reforms and comprehensive plan updates, no other land use proposal has garnered as much public review as Clagstone Meadows in more than 20 years, according to Planning Director Clare Marley.

But the protracted public review process is still unable to allay the unease of neighboring landowners who are concerned the project will impact their water resources, local roads and diminish wildlife habitat.

“It’s the only source of water I have and it’s not insignificant,” landowner Charles Husband said of the stream he draws water from. Husband urged the board to require the developers to put a bond to protect adjacent landowners’ access to water.

Eight others also testified about their concerns over Clagstone Meadows and as many as a dozen more people were intending to testify, but could not attend the second day of the hearing.

The Idaho Conservation League has been voicing concern ever since the Clagstone Meadows plan surfaced. The group contends the dearth of good information about water quality is one of the biggest unresolved issues with the proposal.

The development team’s estimate that 300 gallons per day per dwelling is sufficient to sustain the project’s water demands is below a state study which held that one-bedroom homes average 359 gallons a day and two-bedroom homes average 401 gallons during the winter, according to ICL. The group also cited research from Aspen, Colo., which found that 3,000-square-foot home there were using more than 600 gallons per day.

The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality has raised concerns that impounding water to expand the footprint of Beaver Lake and the destruction of wetlands will make it difficult to maintain good water quality.

“Wetlands help protect water quality and quantity — destroying them will put the water that leaves the property at risk and negatively impact the neighbors. Therefore, this proposal does not meet the standard for review that uses proposed will not be detrimental to the surrounding uses,” ICL’s Susan Drumheller testified.

The developers’ representative, Hal Keever of WHPacific, said during rebuttal that the amount of available water resources will ultimately shape the degree of development. Although the commission’s decision would lock in the density, it’s possible Clagstone Meadow would have fewer than 1,200 units based on available water supply.

Nevertheless, the developers stand behind their three years of analysis of the property and its water resources.

“There shouldn’t be any question about water quality or water quantity at this point,” he said.

A development agreement, meanwhile, will address the timing and type of road improvements, fire and EMS services, and the management of wildlife resources. The developers emphasized that it’s not in their best interests to design a project that will under serve its residents or diminish wildlife and environmental assets.

“We believe that the county and its residents are safeguarded,” Keever said.