3 new projects under consideration on 11-acre parcel near Camping World in Idaho Falls

IDAHO FALLS – Business leaders and city officials are discussing the fate of an 11-acre parcel of land on the northwest side of Camping World in Idaho Falls.

During a city public hearing on Nov. 10, Douglas Clegg, the president and founder of Spring Creek Enterprise, the parent company for Miriam LLC, which owns the property, said he would like to put in a KOA (Kampgrounds of America) Campground and convenience store on that lot.

“The sister relationship with Camping World and a KOA Campground is a compatible match for people that are traveling on (Interstate) 15, and those who want to camp and commute to the surrounding areas like Targhee, Yellowstone, Jackson Hole,” Clegg said, according to public records from the hearing.

Clegg and his staff are the original owners that developed Camping World. The adjoining property was originally going to be used for married student housing. Though there has historically been a lot of graduate students living and working in Idaho Falls, the onset of COVID-19 has prompted many universities to transition to a virtual format — at least for the time being. This significantly impacts the housing industry, Clegg said, which necessitates doing something different with this space.

In a conversation with EastIdahoNews.com, Clegg said he and his team vacated the lots and the right of ways with the original plat three years ago because the way the property was configured was “not aligned with what the market needs.”

“We got it all cleaned up, but the problem was that the comprehensive plan had the previous zoning from the previous plat on it. It never got modified,” says Clegg.

Most of the 11 acres are zoned as Highway Commercial, Clegg says, but there are about 3.5 acres adjacent to Pancheri Drive zoned as Limited Commercial. Clegg wants to rezone the entire property to Highway Commercial so they can develop the campground.

If approved, the campground would include showers, laundry services, a full retail center, gas pumps, propane, an RV dump station and a drive-thru restaurant in the convenience store.

“Skyline High School students like to do drive-thru pickups for breakfast burritos,” Clegg says. “Anyone who comes in looking to do a KOA stay will have what they need as a traveler.”

The campground is one of three options being considered for development on that site. Another option being discussed is apartments for workers at the Idaho National Laboratory. Clegg says there’s a large population of short-term INL interns and workers in Idaho Falls and there’s a housing shortage in that part of town to accommodate them.

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The third option is to use the property for an expansion project for Camping World.

“Camping World has broken all the records in the history of recreational vehicle sales this year. They’re off the charts,” Clegg says. “Their stock went from $3.93 to $37.”

Putting in a campground is Clegg’s biggest desire, but he’s also concerned about Camping World moving elsewhere if there’s no room left to expand.

Clegg says a final decision will likely happen after the first of the year.