New Eagle development will house thousands and take decades to complete

EAGLE — From its entrance off State Highway 16, just a couple miles north of Beacon Light Road, a residential development is taking shape back within the rolling foothills. Most passersby would not even notice it on their way to or from Emmett.

That entrance has a roadway that dips down and curves around to the east, opening into a small valley that is home to Valnova, an emerging community created by Orem, Utah-based Clyde Capital Group, with an office in Boise, which has taken nearly 20 years to break ground and will take another two to three decades to complete.

Project planning for the development started in 2006 as Spring Valley by the company M3. In 2007, the City of Eagle approved the project, annexing the property which is surrounded by Bureau of Land Management lands. Clyde Capital Group purchased the property in 2020, and groundbreaking took place two years later.

The roadway — currently named Aerie Waybut to be renamed Valnova Parkway — entering Valnova on SH-16 will extend through the 6,005-acre property to Willow Creek Road. More than 50% of the development will be open space. The company stated that the development is entitled for just over 7,000 lots to be built out within the next 30 years.

Lots will range in size up to 1-plus acres, with some possibly as big as 10 acres, and housing units will vary from townhomes and attached twin homes and other single-family floor plans up to potentially 6,000-square-foot homes. Since each portion of the property is being developed by Clyde Capital and homes are being built by different companies, the styles and sizes will change from neighborhood to neighborhood.

Two water tanks have already been built and another one will be added. They’ve placed them atop hills and in-ground so as to not obstruct views.

“The purpose of these is if one of the wells ever go out and they have to work on it, you’ve got 2 million gallons of water that you can back feed into the site, so the homeowners still have water,” said Steve Sears, a foreman on the project.

A wastewater treatment facility has been built and will serve the infrastructure of the communities and feed into the Eagle Sewer District.

“As responsible stewards of natural resources, Valnova built its own wastewater treatment facility,” a brochure for the fledgling development reads. “Ongoing efforts in smart wastewater management will further enhance filtration, allowing the water to be safely reused for common landscaping areas.”

Valnova is just one of many developments being built that expand the cities within the Treasure Valley as municipalities and their counties anticipate housing needs due to the growth of the region, which is expected to grow 37% by 2050, according to COMPASS estimates. That would bring the population in the valley to about 1 million or another roughly 220,000 people. The entire state recently surpassed the 2 million population mark, and nearly 800,000 of those live in Ada and Canyon Counties.

Part of the reason for an influx of new residents is the draw of the state’s outdoors and the activities it offers, a fact not lost on Valnova’s developers. Along with miles of trails, there will be a private 18-hole golf course and other community amenities.

“It’s a very thoughtfully planned design for this development, so that we can really have the ability to enjoy native space, which is why people come to Idaho, right?” said Dana Biberston, project strategy specialist with Clyde Capital Group. “They want the great outdoors. They want to experience that.”

On a recent tour, Biberston pointed out Glencara Recreation Village, currently under construction, that will featured a 2.5-acre filtered-water lake with a half-acre of beach. The main structure will house an indoor-outdoor swimming pool, and there will also be a fitness center, hot tubs, pickleball courts, tennis courts, “pocket” parks and access to paddleboarding, biking, hiking, pathways and trailways.

“[Glencara Lake] will be ready in the fall of this year,” she said. “So, as soon as residents are here, the lake will be available about the same time.” The amenities associated with the lake, such as the swimming pool, will be completed sometime in early 2026.

There is also a tentative plan to connect Linder Road from the development into the existing street in Eagle, providing another access point to the community.

At the SH-16 entrance and at the Town Center, a little northeast of Glencara, there will be commercial pads built to provide more options for residents who might not want to trek all the way into Eagle or Star for their shopping needs.

“There will be some residential and some commercial [in Town Center], so you’ll have some conveniences here downtown, as well as out at the highway entrance,” Biberston said. “That just makes it very convenient. You’re not isolated. It’s exclusive but not isolated.” There has been interest by commercial businesses, but the exact types will be determined when residents start occupying the surrounding homes.

Those conveniences will also extend to two elementary schools, a middle and a high school, which are part of the development agreement.

Though most developments are built in phases, a project of this size with several different home builders makes that a little more difficult, so the exact number of phases isn’t exactly known, Biberston pointed out. Several homes are already in various stages of construction near the Town Center by different companies. Among the developers offering homes are Shea Homes, Tresidio Homes, Berkeley Building Co., Hallmark Homes, Oakmont, Paradigm Construction and several others.

“We have some builders that have pre-sold almost all their lots,” she said. “Some have custom homes, so that’s going to take a little bit longer.”

When faced with a decades-long timeline, some people have a hard time imagining a development taking that long. But for employees like Sears, it could mean job security. He has been with the project for a couple of years, and Valnova is only 15 minutes away from his home in Emmett. “I’ll retire out here,” he said.

Work continues throughout the week, with graders preparing lots, moving dirt that will be reused in other areas to elevate lots where needed. The work being done today will translate into a more inviting community later.

“I just love how the development is really so thoughtfully designed but also nestled in the foothills,” Biberston said. “How often do you really get to be nestled in the foothills?”