Industrial, government growth in Yuba County

Yuba County will see industrial and government growth in the near future.

A prune processing plant near the Yuba County Airport will be doubling its staffing and county officials are in the process of expanding the Yuba County Jail and creating a tri-county juvenile hall to accommodate children from Yuba, Sutter and Colusa counties.

Brenda Stranix, president of the Yuba-Sutter Economic Development Corp., said there are not many commercial spaces that are currently ready for businesses.

“We’re actually struggling from a commercial and industrial perspective because we don’t have any available properties,” she said.

But, Stranix said the new California Processing Co. plant will create more jobs as they double their workforce to about 60 with the addition of new prune processing and bottling lines.

“Anytime we have an employer in the county, that is good,” she said. “It also takes a building that was fairly blighted and puts it back into productive use."

She said in Yuba County, her organization focuses on the retention and expansion of local businesses. She said her organization responds to requests from outside businesses interested in expanding to Yuba County. She said her nonprofit is currently working on 22 big projects, which she can’t discuss in detail due to non-disclosure agreements.

“On the business attraction side we are not very proactive because we don’t have the available property,” Stanix said."There is stuff out there that has real potential but we’re not anywhere near making any big announcements."

Doug McCoy, the Yuba County director of administrative services, said he hopes construction on the juvenile hall and jail will break ground next year. McCoy said the county has received a combined $35.5 million in separate grant funding for the two projects.

“We’re pleased that the state is being so generous to help us this far and we’re looking forward to seeing this through to completion,” McCoy said.

He said Colusa County officials approached him and others with the idea of creating a tri-county juvenile hall in lieu of building their own.

“For juvenile hall, it’s a matter of having the kids in the community so their parents can come visit them instead of going who knows where,” McCoy said.

The renovations at the Yuba County Jail will allow for an increase in medical and mental health services, he said.

“They can better serve their population; for them to have a much better space to better serve their patients,” McCoy said.

He said he encourages local agencies to bid on the projects when they reach that step in the construction process.

“We would love to pick a local outfit because it would mean local jobs,” he said.

But, he said the county also has an obligation to the taxpayers to get the best price.