Work starts on commercial project near Pedro Wye
Grading work got underway this month at the site of a future commercial development at Parrotts Ferry and Union Hill roads, near the intersection known as the Pedro Wye, more than three years after the project was approved by the Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors.
Gary Simning, the developer of the so-called Stone Mill Center, said they must complete the grading and put in the underground utilities before construction can begin on the first of three buildings planned for the site, which he’s hoping will happen by sometime next year.
“We’re going to do one building at a time,” he said.
Progress on the development was set back by a lawsuit filed by a local group known as the Citizens for Responsible Growth after the board upheld the county Planning Commission’s approval of the project upon appeal in 2017.
The lawsuit, which accused the developers and county of illegal piecemealing under the California Environmental Quality Act, was ultimately tossed out by a judge in Tuolumne County Superior Court due to a lack of merit.
Simning said the completion of the project will provide the county with much-needed additional revenue because the property taxes paid on the two-acre parcel in its current undeveloped state are roughly $3,000 to $4,000 per year, which he estimated will increase to about $40,000 per year once fully built out.
“Plus the sales tax from the tenants that go in there and the fees we’re paying, it adds up to a substantial amount of money,” he said. “That money goes to schools, roads, and all the services provided by the county.”
The three buildings combined will total about 16,000 square feet of commercial space for future tenants, though none are currently signed up yet. Simning said the buildings will be constructed as tenants are secured.
Simning said that Adventist Health Sonora had previously expressed interest in one of the buildings for an urgent-care clinic, but pulled out for “a variety of reasons” as the lawsuit dragged on in court for more than a year.
“The county desperately needs to be able to grow and increase its revenue for the good of everybody,” he said. “The county needs growth, it’s real simple.”
A grading permit was issued by the county on Oct. 20 to Simning and the legal owner of the parcel, DG investors, LLC, according to Blossom Scott-heim, the supervising engineer to the county.
The Tuolumne Utilities District Board of Directors was previously scheduled to consider executing an agreement for water and sewer services to the development. A public meeting to consider doing that was originally scheduled in September, but was cancelled due to an anticipated power outage.
District staff said the developer doesn’t need to wait for a signed agreement from TUD to start earthwork operations if they have the proper permits from the county, though they can’t install the required water and sewer infrastructure that TUD will be expected to own and operate until the agreement is executed.
Other work is expected to take place near the site next year as part of an unrelated realignment of Highway 49 and Parrotts Ferry Road, also known as the Pedro Wye.
The $1.2 million realignment project that will create a hard right-turn lane from Highway 49 onto Parrotts Ferry Road and eliminate the current swing lane, as well as a turn lane from Parrotts Ferry onto Union Hill Road.
Scott-heim said the county is currently waiting on AT&T to relocate utility lines before getting started on the project, though they anticipate going out to bid in January or February and start construction sometime in the spring.