Board plans Clagstone Meadows visit

SANDPOINT — The Bonner County commission has taken up an offer by the Idaho Department of Lands to tour Clagstone Meadows, the site of a large-scale conservation easement.

The board is scheduled to visit the 12,000-acre tract in south-central Bonner County on Wednesday at 1 p.m. The visit will be a public meeting, but it won’t be audio recorded and no public testimony will be taken.

“It’s just a go-look-around for our benefit,” said commission Chairman Cary Kelly.

The conservation easement is meant to preserve the massive tract as a working forest with public access. The easement supplants at 1,200-unit housing development that was approved by Bonner County in 2010.

Stimson Lumber Co. proposed the housing development, but later pivoted and opted to keep the parcel intact for timber production.

The proposed easement was drawn into question by commissioners Todd Sudick and Glen Bailey in March, just as Idaho lawmakers were asked to accept funding for the easement.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture put up $5 million for the easement and Idaho Fish & Game ponied up another $2 million for the project.

The commission said the easement project progressed without any coordination on how it may affect the county’s comprehensive land use plan, future tax base and impact on surrounding properties.

State legislators ultimately approved the funding after the commission signaled it was taking a neutral stance while it got acquainted with it.

There is no action before the board and Kelly doubted it would take a position after the site tour. He said the commission will likely weigh in when the pending conservation plan is finalized.

“When the final plan comes down, we’ll take a look at it make comment on it,” said Kelly.

The easement has been welcomed by conservation groups and neighboring landowners who opposed the large-scale housing development. However, some residents have taken issue with the concept of paying a private business not to develop its land.