State officials on Tuesday rejected an investment firm’s request to reconsider its massive land swap proposal involving state land in and around McCall for timberland in northern Idaho.
Republican Idaho Gov. Brad Little and other members of the Idaho Land Board voted 5-0 against the request by Trident Holdings to rescind an August rejection letter from the Idaho Department of Lands.
The board in the same vote also rejected the company’s request for an administrative procedure called a contested case hearing.
State officials in the letter to Trident Holdings said it was rejecting the deal to swap 33 square miles of state land in and around McCall for 33 square miles of private timberland in northern Idaho because the state would lose $292 million.
The Lands Department in the letter said the estimated value of the state land around McCall is $366 million, while the land it offered had a value of $74 million. The Lands Department said that the gross value of the state land was $488 million if fully developed. The 25% difference is a discount, or developer’s risk, the state factored in due to the associated costs Trident Holdings would face in developing the property.
Trident Holdings has said the Lands Department’s valuation of the lands is way off, and the company offered roughly $40 million for the state land that’s just over 20,000 acres. (AP)
