BROWNVILLE (AP) – A West Coast developer has a vision of a four-star, 550-room hotel that would be the centerpiece of a destination resort in this Piscataquis County town, serving guests who could arrive by passenger train from Bangor.

Jim Dennehy of Palm Springs, Calif., wants to develop The Reserve at Norton Pond on a 3,500-acre waterfront parcel.

The resort would also include a 45,000-square-foot convention center, spa facility, 25,000-square-foot conference center, golf course, golf school and clubhouse, three restaurants and 400 time-share units.

The Brownville Planning Board has scheduled a site inspection followed by a meeting to discuss the proposal next week. Dennehy, doing business as WHG Development, has declined to discuss the project publicly prior to the meeting.

Railroad tracks now run to the site. Provisions are being made with the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic, as well as the Eastern Maine Railway, to provide passenger service from near Bangor International Airport to the Norton Pond location, according to documents submitted to the planning board.

Officials and residents of this town of 1,250 are very interested in learning more about Dennehy’s proposal, Town Manager Sophia Wilson said Tuesday.

“The project proposed by WHG Development would represent a very large investment within the town of Brownville in terms of valuation and potential job creation,” Wilson said. “Now that the application has been submitted, the planning board will, with assistance from the Piscataquis Economic Development Council and Penobscot Valley Council of Governments, begin the review process.”

Preliminary documents sent by Dennehy to town officials indicate that he would build 200 time-share units and the golf course by April 2007, and the hotel, other time-share units and auxiliary buildings by the last quarter of 2008.